Knight of the Stars
by Flamefox2
Summary: Steadily-recovering Meta Knight is growing to be a friend of Fumu's, and she is slowly learning his secrets. But when NME wants to take control of Meta Knight again, will the demon be able to resist? Or will he submit to Nightmare's wishes? Set in the idea that MK crashes instead of Kirby.
1. Some Stranger in a Strange Land

**I started writing this soon after I first read Warrior of the Stars, which was... about... ten months ago? One year? A year and a half? Yeah, so, my writing has improved since then. After Meta Knight introduces himself is when I got BACK to writing it, so the beginning may be bad, long, or a little... odd... so... yeah. I know it's WAY TOO LONG FOR COMFORT, SO PLEASE JUST BEAR WITH ME.**

**The first part is awful simply because I thought it was so freaking boring to write it. SO BORING. WE ALL KNOW WHAT FREAKING HAPPENS. So, yeah, I wish I could just skip over it, but it's actually really important NOT to... so... yeah... CURSE YOU, SHEEP. CURSE YOU.**

**Enjoy. If you can, that is...**

* * *

It was just like any other ordinary night, with a gentle breeze and a clear night sky, devoid of any clouds that may indicate rain. The moon hung on a lonely string in the sky, watching the village protectively, and seeming to know that something bad was about to happen. In the castle, from the throne room, something began to grow, somehow managing to keep the castle from coming down upon it, and flew overhead.

The field of sheep was sleeping, and the octopus identified them as easy prey in the late night. The red octopus went over the sheep, glaring down with cruel green eyes. It looked down hungrily at the sheep, casting a shadow over the moon, and waking up a sheep. It looked up sleepily, eyes widening when it saw the monster above it. It stood and bleated in panic, awakening and startling the other sheep. When they all saw the monster, they ran, bleating their little heads off, horns and all. The giant octopus quickly scooped them up in its gigantic arms and pulled them all toward its mouth.

The sheep died.

The commotion awakened a shepherd from his sleep, and he ran out, wondering what the heck was going on. A bone smacked him on the head, and he landed on his butt, rubbing his head, before the monster spat out the sheep's bones in a somewhat neat pile. The shepherd looked at the pile for a split second, then he looked at the monster. He screamed like a little girl as the demon rose up higher into the air, belly filled, and flew off toward the castle. The shepherd lost consciousness, fainting on the spot.

* * *

"Please, Kabu, we need your help!" begged a blonde girl, clasping her hands together and looking up at the giant stone tiki carved into the cliff face on the other side of the canyon. The giant stone tiki spoke, mouth opening into a gaping rectangular hole. "What is it that the citizens of Dreamland have come to ask of Kabu?" The holes where the eyes would have been stared ahead, as though expecting something to happen soon. The girl who spoke from before said then, "Kabu, we need your guidance! There's something that's been eating the sheep at night! Do you know what's making the sheep disappear?"

Kabu was silent for a moment. Then…

"There is a demon in Dreamland." This earned him several gasps from the village surrounding him. He payed no attention to the gasps, nor to the mutterings, instead sensing a vaguely familiar presence coming closer slowly. Then the girl said, "What will happen if the demon isn't gotten rid of?"

Kabu answered after a single second. "Dreamland will be destroyed."

The mutterings became more intense, and the air was anxious. Kabu paused a second, checking on the presence once more, before clarifying that it was who he thought it was. "But there is hope.

"Traveling the stars is a lone warrior. He is heading this way. He will help you." Fumu immediately got the image of a tall, handsome knight in shining armor. "His name is Meta Knight, and—"

He was interrupted by the sound of a tank. The king and his advisor were heading right toward them, and most of the people got out of the way just in time, except for one. Fortunately, the criminal was not impacted. The only reason that the criminal was there was to make sure that he didn't do anything while the sheriff was with the rest of the townspeople, talking to Kabu. The king laughed. "So, you say that some warrior is gonna' save this place from a demon invasion and whatnot?"

"Kabu does not lie," he said simply. What he said since the day he was created was always words of truth, nothing but the truth. Of course, he did usually speak in riddles and scarcely ever gave a straight answer to anyone, not even those whom have created him. But it always made sense, in the end. Yes, it always made perfect sense, indeed. There was only one that understood what he said all the time. There was only one of whom understood every last word that Kabu had ever said.

And that one person was coming to Dreamland.

"You don't lie, huh?" asked Dedede, getting ready to shoot his tank. "Then tell us all what'll happen when I shoot you up to kingdom kong?"

Kabu suddenly sensed a jerk in the presence, as though startled. He could feel the presence coming closer and closer, with increasing speed. "Dedede will not push the button."

"Oh, really?" he scoffed, taking aim and readying the tank. "I'll give you 'till the count of three to change your mind."

_For once, I hope that he comes on time,_ he thought, knowing that the king was serious. "One… two… thr—"

He was cut off when a flash of light and a sound like crackling fire—before that, a whiz—came from high overhead. Kabu was relieved. Though he was going to crash, he was there, on time, as usual.

Wait. Did he just think that he was going to crash? Well, he couldn't deny the inevitable; it was bound to happen anyways. Kabu watched silently as the ship came down over the woods and made a magnificent curve upwards, slammed into a tree, and began to tear apart the land, as the star-shaped ship was on its side. A while later, after going through the sheep fields and making the sheep run away, some even toppling over, it stopped at a cliff. The townspeople almost instantly began to head toward the cliff almost immediately.

Definitely a crash.

* * *

Fumu really didn't believe what she was seeing. Right in front of her was a silver starship, shaped like a star with curved points. The others were obviously curious, as well; they had begun to mutter amidst themselves again. Despite all this, Fumu braved taking several steps forward. There was a dome facing toward the audience. She braced herself for a knight in beautiful shining armor.

The dome seemed to be slammed upon, as though whomever was in there was frustrated about something. The hum of the engine was still going, which led Fumu to believe that the engine wasn't completely extinguished, which surprised her, since the ship had taken a rather large beating. She couldn't tell if it was damaged before hand or if the damage was done during the crash. It was covered with dirt and grime, with some volcanic ashes in the mix. It didn't look as though it was being taken care of properly, due to the fact that parts of the metal looked rusted.

The audience gasped in shock, some taking a step or two back. The dome was opening, and a blue object fell to the ground. It shakily got up, and seemed to sway in a dazed state. "Ah…" It turned to look at the ship and leaned on it a bit. Once it lost its dizziness, it punched the ship and growled in pain. "Stupid silver star…" it muttered crossly in the voice of a male. _He_ then turned towards the staring townspeople, and everyone gasped.

He was a blue puffball with a gray mask on that covered his face. He wore a blue cape the same shade as his skin and had white cotton gloves on. Lavender feet were what he stood on, there was a sword in a hilt, and the bottom of the cape looked to be a robin's egg blue. There was also a trim above his head, a part of the cape that framed the top of his head. But the most startling thing about him were his eyes. They were golden yellow, though at the same time held some kind of the sickly yellow of a rising moon inside of them. She could tell immediately that this wasn't any knight in shining armor.

"…What?" he asked, a tone of irritation in his voice, "You've never seen a ship crash on a…" he looked behind him, toward the sea over the bluff. "…A cliff?" He turned back toward them. They were all staring at him, mouths agape. He immediately recognized them as Cappys; they looked like the stems of mushrooms without the caps. How he loathed them. "What do you want?" he hissed. Fumu braved a step forward.

"Uh, excuse me?" He turned to the child. She could tell that he saw her differently from the others, since he seemed to relax only slightly. But that didn't mean that he wasn't still irritated with the many people there. "What?" he murmured, glowering at her. Fumu gulped. "Uh… I was just wondering if you could tell us your name."

He scoffed. "My name? You want me to tell you my name? My _name_? What does my name have anything to do with anything?"

She scowled at him. It was obvious that she wasn't intimidated, as if she were, she would probably have backed off by then. It didn't really matter very much to him. He just wanted to be out of the center of attention. Perhaps the only way he could accomplish that was if he answered her questions. After considering this for a while, he nodded curtly. "Meta Knight."

"Pardon?" she asked, somewhat confused. "What did you just say?"

"Meta Knight. It's my name. Me-tah Nite. It ain't French, and it ain't fancy, but it's me. French would be something like… erm… 'Meta Chevalier', or something of the sort. _Maybe_ just 'Meta Knight' in French, though. As for Spanish, it's… still 'Meta Knight'… but in another language, I'd be called _'Fish Knight' _I think it's Swedish_._ That's just wrong." He shook his head, disgruntled. After a pause, he suddenly muttered, "And _now_ I've developed a strong urge to eat some fudge. Or Swedish fish."

Fumu only stared at the alien as he looked around in a bland sort of way, obviously unimpressed by what he was seeing. There was no way he was the hero that Kabu said would come and rescue them. Just _no way._ If he was, then everyone was road kill. Especially him. It was impossible.

If anything, it was almost as though he were looking for the aforemented sweets. However, if he were, he showed little interest in actually finding them, and instead sighed mutually. After several more moments, for lack of something better to say, he asked, "O-kay… what now?"

* * *

What, indeed.

What he focused mainly on was the safety of his ship, and he didn't step away from it even when everyone else almost pushed him to his limit. He simply let loose a threatening growl and went closer to his 'Dearly Beloved Ship', as Bun called it. This continued for several hours, until Dedede finally showed. Where he was, no one had no idea, and when Meta Knight lay eyes on him, his very first thought was, _Here's someone who reeks of demon._

The scent wafted up his nose and almost made him choke. It was obvious that he was the one who bought demons from the Holy Nightmare Corporation. He was also the true reason that he crashed.

He instantly began to growl in a low tone, even though the creature was nowhere near him and his ship. The girl, who he now recognized as Fumu, looked between them, obviously confused. She didn't get it. Nobody even noticed that he was growling. No one even payed any mind to him, instead watching the kind with some wariness. Wariness that Meta Knight failed to detect.

"What might bring such a great big glutton to a crash site several hours after the crash itself occurred?"

Dedede went hot in the face; it turned red, and one could almost imagine steam coming from his ears and nose. "I am King Dedede! You will refer to me as such!"

"I don't think so. I thought that there was a demon running about here. I thought it would be some great, huge monster that could breathe fire. But I was partly mistaken. It's a great, big, fat chicken that's ripe for the taking and who breathes nothing more than steam, am I right, or am I right?" He let loose a low chuckle. The king continued fuming as he added, "Now I know what this place needs saving from. It needs saving from _you_. Heh, and I thought it was a demon of different colors."

"_Why you...! You'll pay for that!"_ Dedede then pulled out his mallet from out of thin air, raising it above his head and sending it crashing down in the place where Meta Knight stood only seconds before. Everyone looked around, searching for him, none as confused as Fumu and as furious as Dedede. In the end, he was right behind Dedede, and he said, "Right here." As soon as the king turned around, he lept up in the air and over his head, landing silently behind him. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Honestly, are you_ that_ slow? A slug is faster than you."

He turned around again, but Meta Knight wasn't there; he was now on top of his ship, right in plain view. Dedede sneered, raising his mallet and running up to him with a battle cry. When he got to the ship, he slammed his mallet against it.

It didn't even move.

Not one inch.

Meta Knight couldn't help but chuckle. How easy it was to mug the idiotic fool. He then paused. Great, now he was thinking like Galacta Knight. But, either way, it was fine. He was friends with him, even though he almost tried to kill him. He was being possessed by his demon part. And he was pink. So no harm done.

As for him, he had his own problems to worry about. The idiot continued slamming his mallet into his ship, which was greatly damaging the metal. Obviously, he was infuriated. So, why not make him even more so just for the heck of it?

"Is that all? Couldn't you be a little crueler? I'm starting to get bored." For extra measure, he let loose a magnificent yawn, which he must have stored up. Completely infuriated, the penguin... chicken... thing... leaped into the air, raising his mallet high in the air, and brought it down, a fierce glimmer in his eyes.

He could have leaped away. He could have dodged it, or fled, or leapt over his head and landed behind the king. But he didn't do anything of the sort.

Instead, he stopped the attack before it hit him.

He used his hands to halt the face of the mallet, which had a star on it. Oh, stars! Lovely, glistening stars, now being used against him! White stars! Yellow stars! Silver! Ah, but that didn't matter now. He had to focus. He had to! He struggled to do so a little, but nonetheless, he succeeded. He let loose a low chuckle as he prepared to throw the king off balance.

It was at that moment that Dedede did the smartest thing he had ever done since he met Meta Knight. He fell.

Gravity is and always has been a very strange thing. But there is no avoiding gravity. What comes up must come down. That was that. Nothing more, nothing less. That was all there was to gravity. Meta Knight knew it. Surely, someone else knew it, too.

When he landed on the ground, he landed right on his bum.

He didn't even yelp, despite the fall; instead, he rubbed his lower back as though that would relieve the pain. Meta Knight knew it wouldn't, even if he were directly rubbing his oversized butt. This, Meta Knight knew from experience of a thousand times. He got to his feet slowly, though still infuriated, and glared at Meta Knight, who smirked and scoffed at him. Then he did the absolute smartest thing that there was to do at that moment. He turned tail and ran away.

Meta Knight jumped down, and as he looked around, a sudden wave of dizziness came over him. He had to lean against his ship and wait for the spell to pass. Everyone was staring at him. He stifled another yawn. He now felt his vision getting blurry, he was still dizzy. He had to shut his eyes.

So he did.

He literally had to fight to stay awake. The last time he slept... seventy-six hours...? More? He didn't know. He honestly didn't care.

Blackness.

* * *

He struggled to open his eyes, and when he did, everything was blurry. His head hurt. He immediately closed them again upon finding that he couldn't keep them open for much longer. It was agonizing. Embarrassing.

"Hey, are you awake?"

It was that girl. He could recognize her voice. For some reason, it seemed to comfort him somewhat. Since he couldn't speak, however, he only let out a small, "Hmph."

She seemed to exhale a breath. "That's good... what's wrong? Why did you lose consciousness?"

He only shifted a little. Nothing more. Nothing less.

She sighed. "Honestly, what happened back there? Come on, you can tell me."

"Sleep... just need sleep..." He let loose a large yawn and rolled over, now recognizing that he was in a bed. It was a little bumpy, but rather comfortable regardless. After several moments, he fell asleep.

He woke up several hours later from a nightmare, which he couldn't even remember. All he knew was that it was night time, and he was a little cold. He then curled up into a ball and opened his eyes blearily.

If he could yell, he would have, but the fact is, his voice just didn't want to work. He wanted to get up and look for his ship, but the comfort of being in a bed, covered in sheets and warm, just didn't want to let him go. He didn't care that the lights were on. It didn't matter to him if he was going to die in his sleep or be eaten by the mattress. He just wanted sleep.

Silent, blissful sleep.

Black, drifting nothingness.

* * *

As soon as he awoke in her bed again, Fumu had the urge to ask about a million questions all at once. But when he simply seemed to ignore her and turn on his side, it became evident that all that mattered to him was sleep at the time. Not answering any questions. Not speaking to anybody, or even listening, for that matter. It was honestly rather annoying. But he needed sleep, that was evident.

The question was, "How long is he going to sleep?" A day? Two? Maybe three? By then, that demon would probably have attacked, and Dreamland would be in another drought of chaos and panic. She couldn't afford that. She just wouldn't let it happen. The next morning, which would probably in about another thirteen hours or so, she was going to wake him up, whether he liked it or not, whether he yells at her or simply shifts. He _was _going to wake up. That was that.

So it was decided. She would wake him up the next morning.

* * *

The ugly fat king continued to fume long after Meta Knight had first encountered him. He hated him already. He hated that mouth of his, that annoying way that he constantly avoided him and countered his attacks. It almost seemed as though he could read his mind. However, despite this, he still hated him with all his heart. As he charged through the hall, practically lit on fire, seething and growing more and more annoyed, he was already plotting his revenge. But what could he do?

He had already tried attacking him himself, but that didn't really work too well, did it? He supposed that he could have had his demon beast to attack him, but the little octopus probably couldn't do a thing and would turn to smithereens in the first half second of a battle with Meta Knight.

After an hour or two, he finally decided to contact that demon company... what was it called again? Nightmare Enterprises? Holy Nightmare? Whatever. It had the word 'nightmare' in it. It didn't matter.

So, he changed his direction from where ever it was he was going and changed course to the throne room. Once he got there, he went over to his throne and sat in it. The little octopus was in a tank close by- right next to his throne, in fact. It hid a bone behind its back, not considering Dedede's stupidity and the fact that he probably wouldn't have noticed the bone if it was right in front of his face. He then opened up a panel that blended perfectly with the arm of his throne, and pressed a button.

The throne room changed. The lights turned off, and a teleporter was now in the center of the room. Screens or panels positioned themselves every which way. A screen came out of the wall on Dedede's left side and switched on. A light lavender man with a darker purple business suit and orange sunglasses with wavy yellow hair on top of his strong-jawed face was smiling broadly. "Welcome to Nightmare Enterprises. How may I help you, Your Majesty?"

"Yeah, I need a new demon beast! This one ain't worth a single deden!" He gestured toward the small, pinkish-red, beady-eyed demon octopus, which scowled and lowered its arm, exposing the bone that it was hiding. Dedede, of course, being the idiot that he was, didn't even notice.

The man chuckled. "Well, I'll bet you anything that Octocon is just waiting for the right moment to attack. Be patient, Your Highness. It's well worth it."

Then he just shut off the screen, disconnecting them.

"Customer Service? Customer Service?" He frowned and began to yell. "Customer Service! Don't ya dare cut meh off!" He raised his fist and shook it, even though, surprisingly, he knew that Customer Service couldn't possibly see or hear him. That really didn't stop him from trying.

It just infuriated him even more.

He craned his neck so he could look at the octopus, which was rather irritated, as well, but not nearly as much as Dedede. Despite this, it was still pissed off at Dedede's words, and it only deepened when the glutinous king said, "Alrigh', lil' pest. If ya don't show your true form soon, then I'ma have ta give ya back to that company thing."

It was all it could do to contain its anger. Only when Dedede left the throne room did it finally expload.

It threw the bone clear across the room, beady black eyes now a sharp, smart green.

* * *

_"Take one look at yourself, realize..._  
_Life's been treating you nice, better be wise,_  
_And enjoy your moments._

_"Take one look at yourself, into your eyes..._  
_How you've treated your life? Wasn't too wise,_  
_'Cause it's getting closer..._

_"Take one look at yourself, and realize..._  
_Life's been treating you nice, better be wise,_  
_And enjoy your moments._

_"Take one look at yourself, into your eyes..._  
_How you've treated your life? Wasn't too wise,_  
_'Cause it's getting closer."_

He was laying on his side, not caring whether he damaged his wound or caused himself pain. He didn't want to look outside. It was too bright. How he loathed the light, so very dearly.

The tempo... flawless... dark... energetic, somewhat... the words... true... him... heck, it described him perfectly. How he loved Infected Mushroom. Always so dark, so delirious...

His favorite music groups; Infected Mushroom, Evanescence, 30 Seconds to Mars, Daughtry, Voltaire. Anything that had dark songs in it. Or songs that signify loss and retribution.

That song, for instance, 'Legend of the Black Shawarma', consisted of those words, and those words only- simple, and yet complex. He adored it so much, he could almost die because of it. It was so gothic.

Aside from that. As soon as the door cracked open, he fell silent and didn't speak a single word until the girl did first. When she did, it was this.

"So... you're Meta Knight?"

"Yes. Yes, I am." He still didn't turn around to face her. Frankly, he was too tired, and still felt he needed rest. But he couldn't; the demon was probably going to strike at any moment, and he needed to be prepared. Just in case. "Didn't I already tell you that?"

"Well... I guess so..."

"Didn't I?"

"...Yes."

There was silence in which the only sound was that of the girl's little kinetic toy as it spun around in a semi-flawless pattern. It was a cheap toy, that was certain. It operated using magnetic energy. Apparently, she only had it because it looked cool. He didn't see anything of interest in it aside from sometimes becoming either hypnotized or lost within the swirling bands of metal. Occasionally, he wondered whether the universe would look like that when it imploded. Or a planet. Then again, he knew that was what some planets looked like.

The girl finally spoke again, telling him where he was. He honestly didn't want to know.

You're in Castle Dedede. I'm a resident of Castle Dedede. My dad's the cabinet minister."

"...He takes care of cabinets."

The flat tone in which he said those five words must have greatly infuriated Fumu, since she snapped back, "My dad is one of the most important people in Dreamland, and-"

"Relax, relax, kid," he sighed, not even shifting. "I was just saying what I thought I heard."

A sudden explosion in the castle caused him to instantly leap out of the bed and make for the doorway before Fumu could finish yelping in shock and falling to the floor. He left her there- quite non-chivalrous, but he was in a hurry. One couldn't blame him for simply forgetting about the girl.

He was too late when he got there. The destruction was done. The demon was no where to be found.

Meta Knight sat down and fell asleep again in the middle of the rubble. He was obviously exhausted.

Fumu dragged him back to her room.

* * *

He hadn't even made a complete recovery by the fourth day. He simply continued sleeping.

Eventually, Fumu's mother began to grow nervous and began talking about how he might be dead. The soft breathing contradicted this theory, however; as did the slight muttering that occasionally emanated from him, and the common shifting. After feeling his neck area, she found that he didn't seem to be too hot or too cold. He wasn't sick, just tired.

Sometimes, when Fumu took a seat next to him in her chair, he began struggling against an unseen force, possibly panicking. This always took her off guard, so it took her a moment to recover before she could help him. She had to restrain him for a moment or two- sometimes five minutes- before he began to cease his fighting and relaxed.

His eyes always flashed grey in this state.

Was he afraid?

Knights weren't supposed to be afraid.

When he finally opened his eyes, he was still tired and exhausted, though not as much as before. His yellow eyes still had a sick moon yellow in them, but he seemed at least a little more aware. He let his gaze go towards Fumu, who was sitting in her seat. She looked back at him. "...You're awake."

"Way to state the obvious."

How could he be acting so casual about it? He'd been sleeping for four, five days straight! Or did he not notice? She saw that he was looking at the calender, watching it as though he did not understand. He continued doing so for about five minutes before he probably only began to understand; since he said, "...Here on Tuesday... now it's Sunday... so... I've been out for five days."

"Yes. Yes, you have."

"Hmm..." He turned to look out at the sky, which had several white, puffy clouds drifting across its tranquil sea. His eyes turned green. Fumu gasped, shocked. Meta Knight turned to look at her, and the green faded away to make way for sickly yellow. "…What?"

"…Your eyes…" she muttered; "…They were green."

"Yes. So?"

She only sat there, appalled, and completely caught off guard. Was that normal for him, for his eyes to change colors? Did that make it similar to a mood ring or a mood necklace? If she absolutely had to say, she'd say that it was, but as she honestly didn't know very much about it, she couldn't be too sure. And that was only part of the unfortunate mishaps; she didn't really know if his behavior was how he behaved normally, or if it was reserved just for specific personnel, like herself, or Dedede. Stars, she hoped it wasn't the latter. If it was, then she was just plain unlucky. Or maybe lucky, in someone else's point of view, that he was treating her in a 'special, different manner'.

Bad luck, to her. Very much, bad luck.

* * *

"…_I was born of the womb of a poisonous man._

_Beaten and broken and chased from the land,_

_But I rise up above it, high up above it_

_And see._

"_I was hung from a tree made of tongues of the weak,_

_The branches, the bones of the liars, the thieves,_

_But I rise up above it, high up above it_

_And see."_

He blinked.

The blink gave Fumu the idea that he had not meant to say it aloud, but rather think it to himself in a calculative manner. It was odd to think that he was a song person, but he was singing, and that was rather quite strange. Even though it was in a low tone of voice, he was still singing. And he was actually pretty good at it.

Suddenly, he stood up. It seemed almost as though all signs or weariness had faded away within a fraction of a second, probably as though the words drove him onward and gave him adrenaline, fed them to his veins. Though why he stood at that moment was not revealed until moments later, when a loud bang was heard and caught Fumu off guard.

"I knew it."

He quickly ran off and left before Fumu could do anything. Maybe he was afraid of losing the demon again? That must have been it.

She ran after him.

* * *

He knew it. He could sense it. The words buzzed in his head and fed him energy to go off, if only for a moment, or two, or even an hour. The amount of adrenaline varied depending on his mood and his injuries. Due to the fact that they healed a while back, he figured that the adrenaline rush would last long enough for him to defeat the demon beast. Not only that, but after one of those rushes, his tiredness faded away for a good, long while, enabling him to stay awake at night again and brood on important matters rather that have nightmares and pathetic dreams.

Surprisingly, however, what he found when he got there was not a demon beast, but moreso his ship being taken apart by the stupid bird and his pet snail, the snail of which was doing the dismantling. It was just as bad for them as it would be if he'd encountered a demon beast.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

His voice was calm for one who was witnessing the destruction of his own ship before his very eyes, after he'd done so much protecting of it mere days before. The two turned to look at him, for they were facing toward the ship rather than at the knight behind them, apparently shocked. Then the penguin laughed, which was honestly rather stupid of him, since Meta Knight was already furious and didn't need to be any more annoyed. However, it only served to mildly amuse him; he chuckled, which certainly wasn't the reaction the two had been expecting.

"What're you laughin' about?"

"Oh, you're idiots, the both of you." He smirked when the two began laughing, hard. He knew exactly what they were going to say. They said it, anyways, and that was just what he'd been expecting, which served to further amuse him.

"We're gonna die, huh? And how are we gonna die if you don't even have a good sword?"

"Oh, trust me, you do not wish to tamper with the flames once they are lit. The fires and lightning of Galaxia will most certainly dampen your surprisingly stupid superior output on life, here." The king looked confused at his usage of words, so the snail had to whisper something in his ear. That slimy snail. How awkwardly amusing; a penguin was supposed to be smarter than a snail, but here, it was vise versa. When Escargoon, if he wasn't mistaken, finished whispering, the king's smirk turned into a scowl, and he pulled out a hammer out of thin air.

It honestly didn't surprise Meta Knight.

He expected something of the sort, and he'd already seen it before.

"You're gonna pay for that, you!" he snarled, slamming it down into the ground. Meta Knight easily sidestepped, which, for some reason, made Dedede even angrier than before, as he began chasing him around, blindly swinging his mallet into anything in his way. "Come back here, you!"

"You swine," he finished, actually speaking to the king rather than for him. A snicker distracted him for a mere moment, and when he looked in its direction, he was satisfied to see that Bun, the girl's brother, was laughing. Fumu was beside him, and so were their parents.

When he looked back to the king, he was distracted by the realization that his eyes were now demon-sharp and grass-green. Octacon. Of course, perhaps he should have known, but he honestly didn't care. His main concern was to get the stupid king away from him as soon as possible.

An idea came to mind, and he ran to a pillar and jumped off of it, doing a back flip off of it for his own petty amusement. The king, as planned, ran right into it and fell unconscious to the floor. He stood with his back to him for a mere moment before letting his eyes scan the room. Octacon had to be in the room, otherwise the connection couldn't have been strong enough to have possessed the idiot. He spotted it, growing, growing, growing, eyes like Dedede's when he was possessed, its pink hue turning slowly to magenta, growing until it was almost as large as the ceiling. The pillars fell, and Meta Knight himself needed great effort to avoid the falling rubble. He saw the family step backwards quickly—honestly rather smart for someone of their species.

When it finished growing, it slammed a tentacle at Meta Knight, who ran to the side promptly to avoid it. The tentacle immediately swept to the side, which took him off guard and slammed him into the wall with a grunt. After he fell to the floor and stood, dizzy, a stream of fire greeted him. He managed to escape with only the edge of his cape catching flame…

Wait… that wasn't good.

He cursed loudly and struggled to put the fire out, and as she watched, Fumu wondered why he would bother with his cape in the midst of battle. He could always buy a new one, if it was burnt to cinders or something, and if it was horribly torn, he could always mend it.

Fury overwhelmed him as he turned back toward the demon, fire extinguished with several swift flicks of his cape. The edges of the cape were charred and burnt, and a strange smell of burnt flesh filled his nose. How _dare_ that demon breathe fire at him and catch his cape on fire? How _dare _it? He snapped, "Estoy perdiendo mi tiempo en usted, pero usted va a pagar!"

Translation: "I'm wasting my time on you, but you're going to pay!"

Fumu didn't know what he was saying. Neither did the others, and the demon probably didn't know, either, but suddenly Meta Knight unsheathed his sword. A cackle of electricity wound its way from the hilt and formed the image of a golden blade with six prongs, three on each side, double-bladed. The ruby seemed to glow for a second—so brief that Fumu thought she had imagined it—and Meta Knight raised his blade, eyes a strange shade of red. Realization dawned upon her as she realized that it meant that he was angry or infuriated. Obviously, that singe on his cape had done more to him than irritated him; it _enraged_ him so.

With a mighty leap into the air, he brought his sword down and stuck. A beam of crimson light shot from his sword and slashed into the demon, spreading a dark crimson blood cascading to the floor like a waterfall. Not a direct hit, but it both weakened and incensed the demon greatly. Meta Knight landed on the floor, right next to the king, who was just recovering. Dedede raised his head and opened his eyes blearily, and when he saw the demon, he straight out panicked, yelling at it to get away from him, and ran like the fat old chicken he was. Meta Knight watched after him and sweat dropped, lowering his guard for a moment. "What an idiot…" he muttered. When the demon let out a bellow, he reverted his attention from him and looked behind himself.

Great. Now little mini Octacons were coming out of its suckers and lighting themselves on fire, and, while still flying in the air, launched themselves at him.

Only one option.

Get the Black Star out of there.

* * *

The reason was simple; he didn't want to fight the demon and its offspring in the crowding throne room. Or was it something else, like the fact that he loathed the beast enough as it was and wished to fight it outside for sure, utter destruction? Was it because he wanted to escape and recover?

He didn't know.

He honestly didn't care.

As long as the demon followed him to wherever he was going, he was good.

Beyond good, actually. He would be splendid.

While he ran from the throne room, the four inevitably following behind like the fools they were, the demon grew some more and followed. He had to run in order to keep ahead of the beast, and the family wisely chose another path toward the courtyard. Of course, he could have fought Octacon elsewhere, like the top of the tallest tower, but he'd then be at an advantage due to its ability to fly. He could, however, always just… nah, save that for later. Let the villagers find out for themselves, and see how they'd like him then when they found out what he was.

When he reached the courtyard, he noticed that the king was watching from the top of the tallest tower with a pair of binoculars. The coward! Why not come down from there and fight him face-to-face? That was not how a true ruler was. A true ruler fought to the death. He knew two good princes, at one time, but they were dead, as far as he was concerned.

He raised his sword in a battle position and slightly crouched, in case he had to run, jump, or sidestep—most likely jump. Sure enough, a small flock of the small creatures launched themselves at him, and he managed to leap above them just in time. When they doubled back, he slashed them to pieces, making them explode as most demons did. Luckily for him, he got away just before they did so, getting out of their range and landing peacefully on a wall.

The family was watching, and he could see the amazement and shock riddled on both Fumu and Bun's faces. He began to wonder what the two were thinking; then he quickly returned his attention to the battle before him. He couldn't afford even the smallest of distractions.

He knew his eyes weren't red anymore, but he was still sharply annoyed at the demon for doing what it did to his cape. _His_ cape, no one else's! And that wasn't the half of it. The other half that irritated him… would come later. Just not at that moment.

He sidestepped when another flamethrower was launched at him, and he gave it another beam of light a little off to the side. The demon began bleeding even more, and a tentacle fell off of it, landing on the ground, slowly turning to ashes. He estimated that it would be gone by the time he was finished with the creature. A good thing, too; the tentacle was still wriggling and writhing as it disintegrated, making him feel, honestly, almost sick to the stomach. He wanted to destroy it immediately, but he had to focus on the battle.

Octacon bellowed its fury, and began attacking Meta Knight with a barrage of its remaining tentacles, which he dodged with great skill and precision. When he could, he would attack the overgrown octopus, but such opportunities were surprisingly seldom. Despite that, he was rarely hit, and Octacon was injured even moreso.

He sensed that the moment was now. The moment of death and fireworks. The demon would explode by his hand, like it or not, and it would be very, very soon. In five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

He jumped back up into the air, narrowly avoiding a tentacle that was swept at him across the ground, and raised his sword. He focused every last bit of his energy and adrenaline into the blade, making it glow with pure power. He cleared his mind of all thoughts, and his gaze grew to be a true amber shade as he swept his sword at the demon in a single, final strike. Two words were snapped out of his mouth as he did so, and by the time the golden beam of force and energy formed, they had already left him.

"Sword Beam!"

* * *

The strike hit its target dead-on.

Of course, the demon Octacon only got to stay alive for a mere moment before it went right through it and split it in half.

Then it began to fade off into the air, losing its momentum and power.

Then it exploded with a mighty _BANG._

Meta Knight landed on the ground like a cat would. It was at that very moment when Fumu recovered and watched him closely.

He seemed to be tired.

He seemed to be weak.

And he seemed to be relieved. Actually _relieved._

Maybe he wanted to sleep, but he didn't. While he was panting and trembling, obviously fighting the urge to just fall to the ground, instead he busied himself with looking and observing the destruction that he and the demon had created

Rubble littered the ground and continued falling from the skies. The baby Octacons were exploding in the air like fireworks on the Fourth of July. The night had begun to cry; the clouds overhead blocked all the stars, and it had begun to rain. Only thin rays of moonlight shone through.

To sum it all up, the castle was completely and utterly destroyed.

* * *

Things returned to normal in Dreamland soon enough, except for several things. Meta Knight was now living in Dreamland. The sheep weren't dying every other night. Dedede was furious. Octacon was destroyed. And, worst of all, his beloved castle was reduced to rubble.

Meta Knight honestly didn't care. He just picked up a bone and began twirling it in his hands like there was no tomorrow.


	2. Two for One Deal

It was just the next day when everyone began trying to puzzle where Meta Knight was going to live, simple as that. They, mainly the children, were worried that Meta Knight might not want to stay if he didn't have a place to call home, which was quite ironic, seeing as how his ship was destroyed by the crash and the king's meddling, and he had no _choice_ but to live there for the time being.

Despite all of that crazy stuff, he somehow managed to get through the night without incident. When he came back to town the next day, however, he found that he was being worshipped as a local hero, which he could most certainly live without. Meta Knight disliked the way that the townspeople looked at him in an adoring manner, like he was the most incredible thing they'd seen in a long, long time. Personally, he'd prefer not being looked at like he was an endangered animal at a circus. It was simply annoying and very slightly unnerving.

The best he could do was to try to ignore them, which he would have managed, had the children not gone up to him and asked him where he was staying.

"I'm staying where I'm staying; the fact is I'm not going anywhere."

That was his answer, and when they asked him where _exactly_ he was living, he answered that he was living in Dreamland at present time. Honestly, they needed to elaborate their words better. Maybe then, he wouldn't see little holes in their questions and would answer clearly. At least then, they wouldn't be scowling at him like he was killing them or talking about death. Speaking of which, he was almost so. What a shame.

"Come on, Meta Knight," started Fumu, sighing. She was obviously annoyed, which was really what he was aiming for, despite the fact that she might not speak properly to him for a while. In return, she got a chuckle from Meta Knight, which served only to annoy her even more. "Meta Knight, this is no laughing matter! We need to find you a home!"

"Ask around the village to find out who wants to house the hero of whom the king most likely wishes revenge upon and _then_ come complaining back to me."

After a single second, he suddenly realized his mistake and almost tried to take it back before he reminded himself that there was really no use in doing so; Fumu wouldn't forget his words. Ironically, Fumu gasped with inspiration and exclaimed, "That's it!"

Idea.

"What is it?"

He knew that he'd dread the answer, and that it most certainly had something to do with her finding him a home despite his protestations. Honestly, didn't he at least get a say in the decision? After all, weren't they talking about _his_ home in Dreamland? It really made no sense, seeing as how he was suggesting that he could live in the forest or something.

"We can ask around town and ask everyone if they'll let you live with them!"

Meta Knight sighed and found himself muttering sarcastically, "Or you could just _make_ me a home and save yourselves the trouble of trying to find someone."

Another gasp.

Great, now she was going to say that she was going to see if she could make him a home with the townspeople.

Sure enough, she said, "That's a great idea! Let's ask around for help and supplies!"

"Wait, that's not what I—" Before he could complete his sentence, all of the children (whom were gathered around him, Fumu, and Bun) nodded and went off to find at least three people.

He looked around desperately and helplessly, and happened to notice that Fumu was the only one who wasn't running off; instead she was thinking. He sighed and said, "I don't need a home, you know."

"Of course you do! You're the Hero of Dreamland!"

"You can drop the fancy title anytime, now, I honestly don't like it very much. It's highly annoying, in my opinion."

"Then why don't you say anything about it?"

"Out of the pure kindness of my own heart."

At this, Fumu scoffed. Did he not create a convincing enough argument to battle her? Apparently not; and he honestly couldn't care less. He only hoped to annoy her very slightly, if not to the extent. If he had to say so himself, he was actually impressed that the girl hadn't blown up at him yet. Of course, all good things had to take a drastic turn for the worse. And, of course, she snapped at him then and there.

"Pure kindness, huh? ! Then why did I not see this 'Pure kindness' while you were fighting that demon beast? !" At this, Meta Knight's response was a chuckle and several simple words. It happened to form a question.

"Was I meant to?"

She scowled at his response. The fact that she was already annoyed at him enough for one day made her wish that she never even knew about him. Honestly, why did he have to be such a jerk? Forget the fact that he was a Star Warrior! She didn't want to see him ever again! She crossed her arms.

Meta Knight sighed, rubbing his head achingly. Was she always this way? Oh, stars, what had he gotten into? He hadn't crashed on Popstar on purpose, but still… was it really too much to ask for some sympathy? Everyone he'd ever knew had died. He was alone. He was the last Star Warrior.

Apparently for Fumu, sympathy was not an option. She just continued to glare at him with her emerald-green eyes, and greatly infuriated him to no end. Despite this, she still talked to him, even though he annoyed her countless times already. It made little to no sense to him, but at least he had someone to talk to, and even though she was annoying _him_ to an extent, as well, it was equally fair game for the both of them.

"Why _don't_ you want a home?"

Meta Knight simply looked at Fumu dimly. Of course he had a home, he just didn't have a house, since he really didn't _need_ a house. In fact, all he needed was something over his head to block the rain and sunshine, his cape to keep himself warm, some food, and some water. That was exactly what he had last night, and he wanted desperately to keep it that way and not bother anyone with the charge of making him a house if he didn't want it, because, to put it bluntly, he didn't. It was simple as that, but apparently the children just couldn't see that. But then again, they were _children_. What did _they_know?

Of course, Fumu was the smartest of the lot, and possibly the smartest actual resident of Dreamland before he arrived. He wasn't trying to boast about how much smarter he was than the Dreamlanders (then he'd be singing his own praises. Definitely.), but he was smarter than most of them, especially that idiot king, but that was to be expected. The kings always _were_ idiots, just as much as the princes. Except for one. And even _he _was insane.

Despite that, he was like a father to him. But he'd never freely admit it.

"I simply don't need one."

"Of course you need one!" she yelled; "What if it rains? You won't have anything to cover yourself!"

"I'll just run into a cave and wait until it stops raining."

"What about an earthquake?"

"Earthquakes are few and far between here in Dreamland, Fumu. Surely, you should know that."

"What about—?"

"Fumu?"

"What?"

"Could you please be quiet and stop arguing with me?"

She glared daggers at him. Once again, she was getting annoyed. That was actually Meta Knight's goal all along. It presented a sort of challenge trying to roll around the conversation and twisting it to his advantage. He smirked, and perhaps she sensed rather than saw the smirk, but she scowled and said, "Honestly, Meta Knight. You're so cold."

"Thank you, Fumu. That's what I've wanted to hear."

If anything, it annoyed her far more; she scoffed and stayed silent. He had nothing against that; if anything, he appreciated the silence.

[Place Line Here]

If he had to admit anything, it was the fact that he was bland. Of course, despite the fact that he (vaguely) appreciated the help of the children in making his house, he also (greatly) wished that they wouldn't have bothered to do so. He'd already asked them to not make a house. They simply didn't listen.

And they still weren't—they seemed to ignore the fact that only the children themselves made the tree house (to Meta Knight's utter disgust), and rather than saying 'Us', Fumu, who took on the job as the speaker, said, "I'm so glad that we all got together to make a house for Meta Knight."

An overstatement. Only the children made the house for him.

He even said it aloud. "In case you've forgotten, Fumu, the children were the only ones to build the house." His only response was a glare and some downhearted villagers. The glare promised that they'd talk later.

He didn't mind, nor did he care. However, as she continued talking, he spaced her out and paid more attention to the landscape around him that he'd have no choice but to wake up to every single day in the morning. A forest in the distance… grassy meadows… the castle on the cliff… a giant block thing coming toward him that came from the castle…

…Alright, maybe the day wouldn't be _that_bad.

He stood from his seat, which apparently distracted Fumu from her speech; she faltered and looked at him. His eyes flashed a vague pink color, and he just watched the demon come slowly closer. He could make out the outline of some block-like hands, a pair of legs and arms, a frilly hat atop of it, and a sumo wrestlers' underwear, all on a stone block that walked. It got close enough to make out the colors. The stone it was made from was grey. The accessories were purple. Its eyes had a mean look in them. It had no mouth. Atop the block's head was the old fat king himself.

"And _how_ much did you spend on as much of an incompetent demon beast as Blocky is? Five hundred thousand? Or was it on discount? Did its price change since I last saw it?"

The king just glared down at him angrily. Obviously, he wasn't in much of a mood to take Meta Knight's stinging words. The glare in his eyes stated as much. Meta Knight just tapped on the glass of coke on the table beside him, waiting for a response or for Dedede to command the demon to attack him. Surprisingly, he did neither—sure, he told it to attack, but not at _him_—more like at his new home. While everyone screamed and ran, he, Fumu, and Tokkori, the annoying stubborn mustard-yellow hummingbird, stayed behind, the latter simply because he felt threatened, and shouted up at Dedede in his irritatingly high-pitched voice.

"Hey, Dedede! That's mah tree you just struck!" He was obviously oblivious to the humongous size of Blocky and flew up next to the king. Even from fifty feet below, he could hear his shouts. "Ya strike mah tree, ya strike me, now put 'em up! Put 'em up! I'm not afraid of you and your fatty demon! _Put 'em up!"_

While he was rather annoying, Meta Knight found that Tokkori was actually rather amusing with his choice of words. He shouted back up at the king with dagger-like precision, "Come, now, why not destroy your own castle like you've destroyed my humble abode, now? !" He shouted it and let it hold sharp amusement, which obviously went noticed by the king; he snarled and demanded that Blocky attacked Meta Knight.

Fumu was in the way, so he shoved her so that she landed on the cool grass and at the same time avoided the foot that crashed into the table. His coke died.

He loved that coke.

His eyes sparked red, but he restrained attacking Blocky for so stupid a reason. Sure, it should know that he loved coke and would probably get his revenge, but then again, it didn't have the strongest eyesight, either. If anything, it was rather dull and bland. He dodged its other foot, which almost toppled over the tree he was standing by. This greatly angered Tokkori, who snapped something at Dedede and began pecking at him.

While the gluttonous king was distracted, Meta Knight walked away some, followed at distance by Fumu, who was glaring at him with a 'Where-are-you-going-you-have-a-demon-to-kill' look. He shrugged and just continued walking.

[Place Line Here]

In the end, he came to a conclusion. Blocky was completely and undeniably useless.

He was only toying with him, running around his feet and purposefully annoying the old stone block, until it jumped up in the air and came slamming down where Meta Knight had been mere moments before but moved, having enough time to carve a rough sketch of a wooden animal before leaving it behind.

Honestly, it was like it was moving in slow motion.

If it could throw punches that left some sort of energy behind, then maybe it wouldn't be so very pathetic.

It slammed its fist down upon him, catching his cape. He felt a searing pain shoot through his entire body, and rather than trying to escape, he just stood still. Completely still. Blocky glared at him with its mean stare, getting down to almost eye-level somehow. Dedede had fallen off long ago. They were at the cliff, near the beach, where his ship had crashed the day before. They were alone.

Not good at all.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

It was obvious that his too-calm tone of voice made the demon beast angry; it put more weight on its fist, causing him to nearly wince in pain. He had to keep himself under control. He had to keep himself from showing any pain.

Until Blocky grabbed his cape between two fingers and lifted him up. Then he was free to kick. He felt like his back were being ripped in two. Finally, he snapped.

Unsheathing his sword, he used a quick Sword Beam to free himself and hit it right in the face. Blocky let him go, closing its eyes quickly, and Meta Knight landed with apparent relief upon the ground. He didn't dare unfold his… no. Not yet. Not quite yet, and hopefully never.

Blocky stumbled and landed on its back, somehow managing to sit up and glower at Meta Knight, who only scoffed in response. It struggled to stand to its feet, but when it did, he was ready with a vengeance. Immediately, he made a mad dash for the giant old block and jumped in the air, slamming right in the creature. It fell over again, and when it got up again, the process was repeated. When he finally stopped, Blocky was right at the edge. He'd been considering whether to have the demon beast just fall over or have it jump up in the air and kill itself.

He hated to admit it, but he actually liked that cliff. Best to push it off, then.

That's what he did, because the immense weight of Blocky combined with the undeniable force of gravity would make it fall and plummet to the ocean, with no way possible of ever escaping. It'd slowly turn to nothing but bits of sand and rubble before washing away to places unknown.

Of course, it probably wasn't his place to have such wishful thinking.

Still, it couldn't hurt to hope, could it?

Blocky fell, and Meta Knight watched as it splashed into the raging waters below. He smelled the air. Looked like there was a storm coming.

Perfect. He loved storms.

Just… not the ones that Kracko made.

…_STARS, WHAT STUPID NAMES DEMONS HAD._

[Place Line Here]

As Fumu looked up at the thunderhead above the town and nowhere else, Dedede laughed like an idiot. Everyone was wondering where the heck it came from and why it came from absolutely nowhere. It just showed up over the castle and seemed to follow Dedede as he came to the village. They were muttering to each other, some suspecting that it was a strange weather phenomenon, others thinking of it a simple, cruel twist of fate. Fumu thought it was another demon beast.

"Alright, people, listen here!" The king was sitting up proudly in his tank, in one of his 'I'm-all-the-more-superior-than-you-will-ever-be' moods. Fumu just didn't see how someone can be proud to have a cloud hanging over their head quite literally. "There's gonna be a few changes here! For starters, Blocky took care of Meta Knight, and he can't help you now!" Everyone gasped at the news that they thought to be true, but Fumu highly doubted it. Meta Knight could hold his own. She would only believe he was dead if she could actually see him dead.

Sure enough, Meta Knight was in the shadow of the alley, making strangling motions with his hands. She smirked. At least someone else hated the king as much as or more than she did. And he really didn't seem very injured, other than a slightly torn cape at the edges. He was looking up at the thunderhead in a somewhat bored and very vaguely curious manner as Dedede continued with his speech, issuing new taxes, higher prices for groceries (ten deden a loaf of bread), and a vow to make Dreamland an industry.

"But we live off of the farmland!" exclaimed the Mayor, only to pale when Dedede glared at him.

"I don't care about yer farmland! I am the king!"

Fumu had slowly picked her way over to where Meta Knight was watching the exchange with a bored air about him. Finally, she made it to him, and opened her mouth to say something. Meta Knight beat her to it.

"That's obviously a very stupid king."

Fumu nodded, and opened her mouth again.

"Raising the already high taxes. And the prices on groceries. And saying that I'm dead. And making this farmland a wasteland for industry." Meta Knight looked up. "And ordering another demon on the same day as he ordered Blocky."

"Blocky?" What a stupid name. "That's what that guy's name was?" She frowned.

Meta Knight nodded. "Agreed. Not really the most creative name, is it?" Fumu shook her head.

"So, you said that that thing was a demon beast." She looked up at the thunderhead, which had electricity pulsing threateningly within its clouds. It seemed to be trying to intimidate the villagers, whatever that demon beast was, and it was obviously working; they were all watching the storm clouds anxiously, and nothing else. "What is it?"

"Demon beast of the thunder element. Its name is Kracko. At least the name's better, but it sounds like a lovesick crack head." At his own joke, he chuckled, but Fumu's only reaction was to glare at him. He only looked up at her with vague amusement. "…What?"

He appeared to be exasperated, maybe a little disappointed, a little annoyed. She sighed. "Nothing. Just don't make jokes like that, okay?"

"You got it." He returned his attention to the demon beast Kracko, eyes green. He was thinking hard about something. If she only knew what was.

Finally, after a pause, he sighed. "First a demon of the ground etched in stone. Now it's a demon of thunder that reigns the skies." He shook his head in a bemused sort of way. "How ironic. Or is it coincidence? Fate?" Chuckling, Meta Knight suddenly turned his attention to the villagers. Obviously, they missed something the king said; they were now looking at the thunderhead in a scared manner. Dedede must have told them exactly what it was.

Kracko was probably boasting; its thunder and lightning boomed and lit up the darkened sky above them. All around its clouds that covered the actual demon beast, the skies were dark. Outside of the cover of clouds, the skies were clear, blue, and pristine. Shaking his head with a deep, lengthy sigh, Meta Knight turned and left. If Fumu wanted to keep up, she'd have to chase after him, which she did after a moment's pause. Apparently, he was going a little too fast for her. He slowed down only slightly to let her keep pace with him. Somewhat cruel, he knew, but at the moment, he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Where are you going?" she demanded, somehow finding the air to talk; "You've got a demon beast to defeat!"

"You think that my appointed job is to destroy every single demon on sight? Naw, I don't think so, Fumu. I'm tired as it is. I don't feel like destroying another demon right now. Even Star Warriors need to take a break." He turned to look at her with a piercing red gaze. "So please, do leave me be. I've been injured before I came here physically, even though you can't see it at present time. That's because it's hidden."

Pausing for a moment (and grabbing Meta Knight's cape at the same time to keep him from going anywhere), she looked him over. After determining that he had no apparent wounds on him that didn't come from his encounter with Octacon, she shook her head exasperatingly. "You're not hurt. At least, there's no wounds that you got before you fought Octacon."

"Ah, I thought you'd be smarter than that." He had immediately stopped as soon as she gripped his cape, and seemed unusually tense. Seeing this, Fumu hesitated before tugging on the cape lightly. He winced.

"What's up with the cape, Meta Knight? Is it a part of your body or something?"

"Yes—well… no—well… maybe—actually… sort of."

"Make up your mind, already, Meta Knight!" she snapped impatiently. His only response was the lightest of chuckles, and Meta Knight tugged himself away from her prying hands and continued walking. She had to hurry to keep up with him.

"Well, which is it?"

"Yes. No. Maybe. Sort of."

She just shook her head, wondering exactly where this was going and why Meta Knight was so… strange.

[Place Line Here]

The first thing he had to do would probably be to find out exactly what the fat old lug was doing in the first place. Then maybe he could figure out exactly how to stop him.

…Tomorrow. Not today.

He allowed himself the pleasure of unleashing a yawn as he walked back toward the tree and jumped up on a branch. Fumu was still following him, and only looked at him, confused. "…What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. He kicked his feet back and relaxed. The sun was blocked out by the leaves, which suited him just fine. He didn't want the heat or the light; they'd just keep him up. He wanted rest, and he wanted peace and quiet.

Unfortunately, that wasn't what he was going to get. Fumu continued talking despite the obvious fact that he wasn't really listening or caring.

"Meta Knight!"

"What is it?" He opened one eye blearily and looked down at the girl, who was fuming furiously. Heh, she was practically radiating steam. And if looks could kill, he'd be burnt to ashes and scattered to the four winds by now. Like a vampire. She continued glaring at him as she snapped.

"You've got to defeat that demon!"

"Tomorrow. I'm tired. I just drowned Blocky into the currents of the oceans. He nearly stepped on me several times. I considered suicide, but then that would leave everyone to mourn for their old hero's death." Here, he chuckled. "I know enough about mourning as it is."

"You're suicidal?"

"Did I really just let that slip? Oh, my!" He let loose a rather dramatic gasp. Then he got right back to business. "Seriously, though. I need a break."

"You don't get a break until you defeat that demon!"

He let loose a short sigh, which he served to Fumu as an irritation dish. She completely devoured it.

"Meta Knight!"

"Relax, relax. I _will_. But if you keep on bugging me, I might just change my mind and not help out, and go about the entire planet in a roaming state of mind and never come back, because I'm sure that my ship's not the only one that crashed on this miserable excuse of a planet, am I?"

She fell silent.

"That's a good girl. Now, just give me a few hours, and then wake me up if I'm asleep. Then I'll destroy the demon beast Kracko."

"You're despicable."

Oh, great. He annoyed her too much. He could feel a presence stirring in delight, which he immediately reacted by making it fall still and silent.

Opening an eye, he looked down at Fumu. Her arms were crossed, and she was glowering at him. After a tense pause, he finally groaned and leaped down, gaze slightly tinted red. _"Alright, already! Just stop bothering me!"_

Behind his back, Fumu fist-pumped victoriously.

[Place Line Here]

His cape ached again.

This thought racked his brain as he looked up at the demon beast Kracko from behind the shadows of a building. Kracko couldn't see him, which he considered to be good luck, since it could usually always see everything. Of course, it could very well be considered an omen, but then again, since he knew about these demons by heart, he knew it was only _by_ luck that he was able to avoid the ever-watching eye of Kracko.

It was obvious that it ran a tight shift; when a single person looked out of their windows at the cloud looming overhead, its thunder immediately flashed right next to them, followed by a deafening crack of thunder. Therefore, the streets were deserted. Only Dedede and Escargoon were free to move about freely.

Meta Knight watched them as they strode through town, Dedede tall and proud, his attendant and advisor somewhat cowardly and nervously. Escargon was both of these. Distinctly, a song rang in his ears. Well, not really a song, more like an instrumental. It brought dread upon his heart as he thought about how idiotic his idea was: He didn't even know what the idiot's plan was! Then again, he was a fool. He probably didn't have any plan other than killing Meta Knight.

As for himself… well, he wasn't thinking straight. Sleeplessness was taking its toll on him again. He couldn't really think up a good plan for his life, which was an absolute shame, considering the fact that Kracko had always hated him, and the feeling was mutual. It wouldn't hesitate to kill him. And he wouldn't hesitate to kill Kracko.

So, of course, maybe stepping out into the open wasn't really the greatest idea ever. He'd considered leaving Galaxia in the tree as a sign of peace. Hah, peace. Right. Then he'd only have a whip, which his leader taught him to use. Slowly, calmly, he took a step outside of his hideout and into the open space.

Immediately, Kracko aimed a lightning bolt at him, which he narrowly missed. It shot another, which be blocked with Galaxia. Turning around to see what the commotion was, Dedede grew enraged when he saw Meta Knight. "You're supposed to be dead!" he snapped; "Blocky was 'sposed to kill ya!"

"Who cares what Blocky was _supposed_ to do?" He stepped away from another bolt aimed at him. "The point is, he didn't do it. _Stars,_ Sire, call off your demon!"

"What was that?" Kracko was still firing at will at Meta Knight, almost hitting him several times and nearly fatally wounding him. Dedede was smirking evilly, apparently pleased at Meta Knight's reaction. Pausing for a moment, he face-palmed and groaned.

"Your Majesty, _please_ call off your demon!" He side-stepped another strike that touched his cape and ignited it. He felt searing pain shoot up his spine as he began running around, frantically trying to extinguish the flame. _It burned! It burned so badly! So very badly!_

Dedede only laughed in amusement and victory before commending Kracko to continue. It was at that instant that Meta Knight got an idea and dove for the tank, landing right on top of it for a quick second, which was enough time for Dedede to panic and yell up at Kracko to stop attacking and his attendant to shout in fear.

It was too late—the lightning bolt came down from the heavens and struck the tank, electrocuting Dedede and the snail. By that point, the navy blue soldier jumped down from the tank and rushed off, his quest now to search for some water to quench the spreading flames on his cape. The pain was getting unbearable! If he didn't find water soon, then he might as well perish and rot in Black Star. The fire left behind scorching blackness as it spread upward toward his back, which was strange, since it should have burnt the fabric to ashes. While he knew the exact reason for this, he couldn't brood on it at that instant. If he didn't hurry, his body would probably be permanently maimed!

[Place Line Here]

As Fumu watched the knight leave, she noticed something peculiar about his manner. She'd never seen him panicked, which served to add to her confusion, as she felt there was something that she was missing, something important, something that was just plain _there. _Where his cape should have been turning to ashes and burnt fabric, it was only charred and black instead. The fire stopped there and instead extended in a moderately bold line up towards his actual back at a somewhat fast rate. The scent that wafted from the cape smelt like burnt flesh.

The yelling penguin king was snapping at Meta Knight, who had by now disappeared in his panicked frenzy and need to do something—most likely quench the fire. After a while, Dedede paused, thought a moment, and then burst down into laughter, obviously thinking the entire situation to be humorous. As Dedede was talking, saying whatever it was that idiot kings said these days, Fumu ran after Meta Knight.

She didn't catch a single word he said.

[Place Line Here]

When she found him, he was in a stream, cooling his cape in the icy water. His eyes were a mixture of bright crimson and pained orange, which caused Fumu to pause for a moment. Finally, gathering up the courage to walk up to him, she muttered, "Meta Knight…?"

Immediately, he looked up and glared at her, rage consuming his eyes as they burned a dark, bloody scarlet. "What do you want? Do you want to laugh at my pain?"

He seemed relatively amused when Fumu shook her head, but before she could say anything, he dropped his anger towards her and rose from where he was sitting, eyes turning back into their original yellow. He shook his head and sighed. "Then why _are_ you here?"

"I'm here to see exactly what that cape _really_ is, Meta Knight."

At this, he lightly chuckled, and touched a burnt part of his cape. He winced, since it was really difficult to finger an unharmed area. It was burnt halfway up.

With a dark chuckle now, he leered at her, eyes tinted a rosy pink. "Ah, you'll find out soon enough, when I kill that horrid demon beast Kracko of the Thunder."

At this, he left and turned toward the direction of Kabu. Fumu hesitated, but followed.

[Place Line Here]

"_Do_ tell me, O Wise and Gracious Kabu…!" he began, raising his arms like he were speaking or praying to a god. Fumu just watched blandly. Why was he acting so… melodramatic? It made no sense. Several moments ago, he was completely infuriated; now he was being far too dramatic to Kabu. Shaking her head clear of these thoughts and promising that she'd save the questions for later to ask Meta Knight, she watched and listened.

"…Where the hell is my Bluebird of Happiness?"

His voice dropped to a deadly pitch that made Fumu wince. Of course, it would have been funny, if his eyes hadn't flashed a sharp red as he spoke.

But seriously… 'Bluebird of Happiness'? What was that supposed to mean?

Calmly, Kabu answered. "Meta Knight's Bluebird of Happiness will arrive soon after Nightmare's defeat. In the meantime, he must train a young Star Warrior by the name of—"

"Yeah, yeah, by the name of Kirby. Kirby of the Stars. Blah, blah, blah." Waving his hand dismissively, he spoke even more. "I mean, when is my freaking Bluebird going to come, All Knowing One?"

"Soon after Nightmare is defeated."

"And when will this be, O Stone with A Thousand Eyes?"

"Soon after Nightmare is defeated."

"Alright, I heard enough." He shook his head impatiently. "Seriously, Kabu, I think you're getting a bit rusty in your old age... Ah, sorry, O All-Knowing Tiki of Dreamland. What I mean to say is, Great Mind of a Thousand Years, is that I'm sick and tired of figuring out what the heck it is you're trying to tell me. Would it kill you to answer me straight, O Great Bearded One Etched of Stone by the Star Warriors?"

When he didn't get a response within the moment, he sighed and turned around. Kabu's voice called out after him, and what he said made him stop dead in his tracks.

"Your leader misses you."

Meta Knight didn't respond immediately; his eyes turned a dark sapphire in his sadness. He shook his head and muttered, "Then why can't he come here and tell me that to his face? Why did he have to leave me?"

He didn't wait for a response.

He just walked away. Fumu followed.

[Place Line Here]

"Pretend like I'm dead."

Fumu stared at Meta Knight blankly, unable to comprehend exactly why he said that. Of course, pretending like he was dead would give him time to recover from the attack from Kracko. If she had to say anything, or indeed, had a say in the matter, she'd say that the idea was a good one, but incomprehensible, somehow.

"Why?"

"I need time to recover. Plus, Kracko gets on my nerves. I don't want to act too rashly, now, do I? If the king believes me to be dead, then he wouldn't send Kracko to find me, enabling me to tend to my wounds—"

"What wounds? The only thing that's injured is your cape, for some reason. What's your cape _really,_ Meta Knight?"

Here, he shifted slightly. He seemed to realize that he let something slip unintentionally, if the sardonic gaze he gave her were any indication. "It's nothing, it really isn't. The fact of the matter is that I prefer not mentioning it to anybody at all, if I can help it. The _point_ is, I need time to recover before I can face off against Kracko again. Otherwise, I'll probably die."

Of course, she understood that part, but the rest made absolutely no since. For starters; why did his cape give off the stench of burnt flesh rather than burn and dwindle away to nothing? That plus the fact that the burnt part of his cape was significantly blackened only added to her confusion, and his cries of pain still served him well to tell her that there was more to the story than what he told her. It served to increase her curiosity, and made many questions form in her mind, one of them the most prominent of all.

"Why did you feel pain?"

Here, he grunted and turned around; it was obvious that he didn't want to speak of the matter, but because of her observant, keen eye, she noticed that the base of his cape seemed a little tense. "Who says pain wanted me to hurt? Who says? You? Just because you say something doesn't make it true."

Fumu blinked. So he didn't feel pain? But it was obvious from the way he was panicking and screaming that he did. He couldn't pretend that he didn't. "Right back at 'cha, Meta Knight."

He scoffed and wrapped his cape around himself, wincing when he touched the burnt part of his cloak. The fact still remained. He felt pain, though he tried to ignore it. He was hiding something. Maybe if she found out what his secret was, then he'd be a little more open about his pain and about his past? But then, the same was true vise versa. He could be more secluded if she found out, and not tell her anything. "Maybe I'll tell you a little something later, if I still trust you."

Fumu blinked. "Wait, since when was it all about trust?"

"It's _always_ about trust. Currently, I don't hold much trust for you, but it's still trust, nonetheless. There is one that I would trust with my own life, and he the same. I'd probably only trust you with a penny of mine, but hopefully that trust will grow to become enough for me to tell you a little secret."

That was an awful lot coming from Meta Knight. Maybe he really _did_ trust her, if only just a little. She found herself relieved by the thought that he trusted her even a little. From what she could see, he wasn't one to trust easily, yet somehow, he trusted her within the span of twenty-four hours. She allowed herself a smirk. "Trust, eh? Is that the most important thing to you?"

"Not quite. There. Those are the limits to my trust for you. Now, tell me. Do you trust me at all?"

"Of course, I do! You saved this town twice! Why _wouldn't _I trust you?"

"How much?"

Here, she had to pause. She really didn't know him, and he didn't know much about her, either. Still, she had enough trust for him over the span of a day, a night, and a morning to trust him with her life rather hesitantly. Rather than tell him that, though, she shrugged. "I really don't know. Hey, this guy you trust with your life… how close were you to him? Was he your brother?"

"No! He was not my brother any more than he'd ever be my father!" His eyes sparked a shade of crimson red, causing Fumu to wince. His gaze held the claret red for a good moment or two before fading back to yellow; he shook his head and turned away. "He'd never be my father. Never in a thousand years, never in ten thousand, never in a million. That's just not how he sees me."

"…But that's how you see _him,_ isn't it?"

"Who are you…?" he sighed and looked back at her, eyes now a deep, sepulchral sapphire. He seemed to realize this and shook his head sharply to clear the color; succeeding, it returned to its regular amber. "Who are you to judge my emotions toward the only one I'd trust with my life for all of eternity?" He turned away again and left. Fumu didn't follow him.

**[Place Line Here]**

In the deepest part of the ocean depths, on the sea floor and slowly vanishing, piece by piece, a large stone block was steadily corroding. On its top, there was a frilly hat; on its bottom, there was a purple sumo wrestlers' pair of boxers, used when they were about to battle against another. The grey stone was breaking apart, piece by piece, bit by bit. If something didn't happen, then it would have become another figment of the coral reefs, with algae growing between its cracks and coral of many colors forming on its surface. On what was perhaps the face of the stone block, there were two slits that resembled closed eyes.

The fish that passed by glanced warily at the block, sensing that there was something unnatural about it. What was on it? Why was it in such an unnatural shape? Yes, it was certainly best to keep away from it for several weeks, until they were all sure that it was perfectly safe. For several hours, the creatures of the reef, small octopuses, thin squids, fish of all shapes and sizes, the occasional shark… all gathered around the strange stone in curiosity, a silent treaty being made between them all. The crabs and lobsters gazed up at the massive beast; the sharks and fish looking down. The occasional sea turtle and manta ray circled above it, looking down at it in pure confusion.

Just as they were about to ponder that the fifty-foot block was safe to go toward, the slits that they thought to be like eyes opened, revealing sharp, pointed, and furious features. It looked at the creatures quixotically, then an arm that they could have sworn wasn't there before reached out and swept them all away in a current. They immediately turned tail and swam away, sharks, squids, octopuses, fish, crabs, lobsters, turtles, rays—all manner of reef fish swam as fast as they could from the strange block they now knew to be highly dangerous. Within several seconds, it was all silent. Those who weren't fast enough to escape hid beneath strong, sturdy rocks and stones. Clouds of ink from the octopuses and squid drifted in the water.

The block leered around.

Something had clicked in it to cause it to awaken. It had been recovering, recovering, recovering… recovering from… what? An order rose in its mechanical mind. 'Destroy Meta Knight.' But how long had it been in recovery mode? After a moment, it deducted that it had been down on the ocean floor for a mere six hours. That would mean that it was about four in the afternoon. It had to finish its job quickly.

From its bottom half, it pulled out a set of legs and stood. It'd have to make it to shore if it were to finish its assignment and win the praise of its Master. It pulled up a mental map. From its current location, there was supposed to be a beach shore close by, about several miles to the north-west. Ah, how funny. How deep it was. It'd take some time to climb out from the trenches, and then to walk toward shore. Lucky it wasn't a living being. That would pose as a problem, since not only would it have not survived that amount of pressure in the first place, but it would also have needed air, and more than likely, an aquatic organism would have digested it by then. Lucky, lucky, lucky. In the end, that was all it came down to.

It began walking toward the nearest wall of the deep hole. Stretching out its other arm, it grabbed a jutting rock and pulled itself up. It grabbed another one and pulled itself up from there. It then put its foot on the first support and continued climbing from the depths of the ocean deep.

It was time for revenge. It _would_ get its Master's praise.

Oh, how much _praise_ Nightmare would give it.

**[Place Line Here]**

Dedede laughed as he continued to feast on the food that his servants brought him. The girl, Fumu, had grimly brought him the news that Meta Knight had died from fright. From _fright—_imagine _that!_ The great 'Star Warrior', Meta Knight, dying from a case of fear! Who knew that he was afraid of Kracko—or maybe it was electricity? Kracko was above the castle, now, the thunder rumbling as though it were purring. Perhaps it was; it had done a job well done, and deserved a reward.

Wait—it was a demon. It didn't need a reward.

As for his advisor… well, he didn't seem nearly as enthused as Dedede. If anything, he seemed rather anxious.

"We shouldn't have killed him," is what he said. Dedede would respond with a pointed glare and snap at him to shut up and enjoy the feast. Eventually, Escargoon did fall silent, but he didn't eat a single bite.

How Meta Knight had gotten a phobia of thunder was beyond the penguin king. Whatever the reason, he was glad for it, since now he didn't have anyone to disturb him as he frightened the villagers or anything of the sort. With that, he finished his meal, leaving nothing but scraps and crumbs as he stood and began to walk toward the throne, removing the napkin that was tucked neatly beneath his chin so he wouldn't spoil his robes as he told the good news to Customer Service.

He sat on the throne and pushed a button; the lights dimmed. The DTS, or Demon Transporter System, came from under the ground and from inside the ceiling. Several screens came from the walls from either side of the room. One larger screen used for communication came from Dedede's left and stopped right in front of him. In a flash of white light, Customer Service was right there, smiling his usual goofy smile.

"Welcome to Nightmare Enterprises, Your Highness. How may I help you today?"

"You know that demon Kracko you've sent? Yeah, Meta Knight died from a case of fright, or somethin' like that."

Just like that, the smile was wiped off of Customer Service's face. It didn't return; this told Dedede that something was horribly wrong with what he'd just said, he pulled a muscle in his face, or something bad had just happened.

A hunch told Dedede that it was the first choice.

"What? What's wrong with that?"

"Well, here's the thing… Meta Knight and Kracko have this kind of a grudge against each other. It involves something like Kracko's use of electricity and thunder and lightning. Kracko says that using it to kill is just perfect. Meta Knight thinks that killing with electricity is just a waste of time, unless it's truly necessary. Eventually, they became the ultimate rivals."

"Oh. Wait… how did they come across each other, again?"

"On the battlefield, of course. Multiple times over the past years or so, in fact. They've always ended up in a draw."

"Oh, have they, now? And how do you know about what Meta Knight says?"

"Kracko complains on a constant basis about his opinions."

"Ah." Dedede blinked. "You were saying about Meta Knight?"

He saw Customer Service look around cautiously, as though he were looking around for people who were listening in. When he found none, he leaned in closely and whispered, "Well, you see… other than the dilemma with Kracko, Meta Knight apparently loves thunder and lightning. Unless he's struck with it, of course, in which case, he gets weakened. But it wouldn't kill him at all."

Dedede blinked once more. "So, he's not dead?"

"I'm afraid not."

Dedede slammed his fist back against the arm of the throne, completely infuriated. "That little liar! I should've known!"

"Perhaps I can interest you in another demon beast—?"

"No! I'll take care of this myself!"

And with that, Dedede pushed a button, causing the transporter and all of the screens to return to their resting places.

**[Place Line Here]**

He was going to kill Kabu, if it was the last thing he ever did.

Kabu told him that Dedede knew he was still alive, so his earlier plan wouldn't work. While he didn't like Kracko very much and would love nothing more than to skewer it and roast it over an open flame, he couldn't do so if his injuries rendered his… well, basically, it was impossible if they were immobile.

He tensed the base of his cape and winced; there was the pain again, sharp as ever. The burns needed to heal at least a little, but thus far, they hadn't done so at all. He cursed Kracko under his breath. A voice was beginning to purr in his mind; he wrestled it down heartily, despite the fact that it grew louder. In time, he eventually ignored it altogether and continued walking down the stream.

If what Kabu said was true, then Kracko would be after him in a matter of hours. He couldn't waste any time; he needed a place to hide. But where? He pulled himself away from the stream and began walking away. After fifteen minutes, he came across a clearing with what looked like the remains of old buildings. Somewhere close by, there was a large pipe. An idea came to mind; there! He could hide there. Kracko would have no idea… of course, it would take a couple of days for his burns to settle down and disappear, but the wait would be worth it if he could finally kill Kracko. He quickly walked over toward the pipe and climbed in it.

Now that that was settled, he could finally brood about old matters. Then again, he didn't want to. Unless his leader was with him, he preferred to avoid it as often as possible. It hurt. It hurt too much for comfort.

He sighed as these thoughts passed through his mind. There he went again; exactly when he didn't want to think about it, he thought about it anyways.

'_Yo, Meta. You gonna let me out anytime soon?'_

He felt the presence shift in his mind. With some annoyance, he muttered, "Of course not. Why would I?"

'_Where's my blood, MK? You know I need my blood."_

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Just give me a bit more time, Daaku, and _then_ you'll get that which you wish so very desperately. I promise."

'_Alright, MK. But it has better be _soon_. Or you'll pay… with _your_ blood._"

"That's what you said when we were stuck on that prison on—"

'_Ah, memories. Sweet memories~ Yes, I do recall completely and utterly. But still; this time, I'm serious.'_ As though to add to his words, he gently caused a light tremor to Meta Knight's mind. Instantly, he felt as though something were being drawn from out of his wrist. In his mind, Daaku was drinking some of his blood. He could already see the bite marks…

"Stop that, Daaku! I get it!"

'_Good. Ah, stars, that felt good. Not very pure, but whatever. See ya~!'_ The presence in his mind vanished.

He sighed with great annoyance. He never ceased to annoy him, and Daaku knew that perfectly well. But if he got loose… he shuddered. The last time he let that happen, he almost killed the only one he ever cared about. Back then, his shade didn't turn darker, but he was still loosened from his chains and set free from his cage. He'd have to make sure that it's completely secure.

He gulped. Without blood, he grew more restless, and therefore grew weaker and unstable. In that ice prison, he had to go for months without blood, months without food and water, months without the sun and the stars…

No sun or stars. An ache in his heart formed; he looked at Kracko. He hated it. The clouds it formed blocked out the sky, the sun and the stars. The darkness made him furious. He wanted nothing more than to destroy that horrid demon. His eyes burned a scarlet shade. He clenched his fists tightly. Kracko would die on the night of his recovery. Just you wait.

Better yet, make that a few hours. The burns were recovering faster than he suspected.

**[Place Line Here]**

The demon beast caused the sky above town to turn dark and thunderous. The rumble and purr of thunder reached the ears of the townspeople, causing them to grow uneasy and restless. Dedede was laughing in his battle tank, gloating about how he killed Meta Knight. Of course, Fumu knew better, since said knight told her to pretend he was dead. Bun didn't know, either, and neither did their mother or father. In fact, she suspected that nobody but herself knew.

But still. Something was off. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was off.

She peered around, momentarily ignoring the king and his gloating. What was wrong…? All the townspeople were gathered around the king like sheep around a shepherd. Dedede and Escargoon were their usual selfish selves; Meta Knight was in a dark, abandoned corner…

Wait. What was Meta Knight doing there?

"I was afraid I'd go unnoticed," he muttered when she got close enough to him to hear what he was saying. She looked at his cape. It seemed to heal for the most part, but was still slightly paler than usual. How strange. Had he changed his cape to accommodate the occasion, or was this the same cape as the one he'd used before?

"What are you doing here?"

"You know how I said a few days, right? I changed it to a few hours."

"What?!"

"Sh, keep it down! Don't attract attention."

As he withdrew slightly more into the shadows, she looked around her. Sure enough, some villagers were looking at her in a weird manner. She blushed slightly and said, "How could _Meta Knight_ die? _Really._" They all then shrugged and returned their attention to the king, who was beaconing toward Kracko in a gleeful manner. What an idiot.

"Get over here, will you? I'm getting annoyed with this whispering, and getting fed up with the—" Suddenly, he stopped. Fumu turned toward him, confused. He was frozen up, staring at the king as though he were staring at a slimy, gooey thing that he absolutely hated. However, there seemed to be some attention in there; he was staring at Dedede's face, at his eyes. She saw him scan his body as Dedede gestured around, as he spoke. Was he really paying attention to what he was saying and doing? Suddenly, he withdrew in the shadows. Fumu spoke toward Meta Knight in a confused manner. "What? What's wrong?"

"He knows." His eyes flashed a mixture of colors; a tinge of green; a bit of white; radiant red; and bright, bright blue. In the end, he seemed happy. "Good. That saves me the trouble of having to explain myself."

"How could he know, though? What does he know, anyways?"

"He knows two things. First off, he knows I'm still alive. And he also knows that I'm right here." Now, he waved and shouted, "Yo, King Dodo bird! Here I am!"

Dedede's expression was that of an ugly sneer. "Now, how did I know that you were there?"

"How the heck should I know? Thing is, I knew you knew that I was still alive, and you probably knew that I knew that you knew where I was just now, right here, in this dark and shady ally, off the side of the main street, so that nobody could see me. But was I here the whole time? I think not—I have been here, there, everywhere, in sight and out, up and about, and down low, to the ground, without a sound… wait—is it really _me _who's talking like this?"

"Kracko—attack!"

A sudden bolt of lightning suddenly struck from the dark cloud, but Meta Knight was already gone. Fumu, who was in danger, was pushed aside roughly before the bolt of lightning could hit her; within seconds, he was running through the crowd, who were panicking and running everywhere, making it difficult for Meta Knight to escape. Kracko followed in close pursuit, and, not caring whether someone was in the way or not, fired at will. Meta Knight barely avoided the attacks, narrowly avoiding a graze on his cape that would have started a fire.

Fumu didn't know why, but she followed as closely as she could and dared.

Meta Knight finally managed to weave his way through the villagers and broke into a run, out of town, into the sheep fields, Kracko following in close pursuit.

How did he know that Dedede knew that he was there? How did Meta Knight know that Dedede knew that he was still alive? Maybe he saw it in the way that he was moving, in his eyes? But the question remained; how did he find out in the first place?

**[Place Line Here]**

Success. It had only a little more ways to go before it reached the shore. It already felt the water parting at its head as it continued walking, its footsteps causing clouds of sand to come up in the water. Finally, after all of that toil, it would be able to destroy Meta Knight and win the praise of Nightmare, the only thing it had ever wished for!

Blocky's eyes gazed around momentarily, wary of whether Meta Knight would be at the beach at that moment. No one was there but it. The dark clouds swirled overhead, which greatly annoyed it. That meant that Kracko was there! It was also trying to win the words and attention of their Master! Clenching its fists, Blocky began to walk a little faster, picking up the pace. No matter what would happen, that praise was _its. _Kracko might as well forget it. It'd do anything to make Nightmare proud of it; even if it had to kill Kracko, it would still be worth it.

Hopefully, Kracko hadn't killed Meta Knight yet. That would have just spoiled the fun.

A bolt of lightning struck the ground—that was probably a good sign. It continued to do so for a while before it finally stopped. The cloud had moved from above the town and was now hovering above a small wasteland that Blocky could see due to its large proportions. If it was shooting at Meta Knight, then either he'd ducked for cover and made it to safety, or it'd been killed. Knowing this, Blocky picked up the pace eagerly.

It'd better hurry. Kracko was winning the race.

**[Place Line Here]**

Meta Knight had retreated to his pipe. Kracko lingered around outside, he knew, so he didn't dare show his face. He was lucky that the pipe was covered with earth; otherwise it would have conducted electricity and shocked him. The shock would probably have burned his cape again and ignited it. That would have been bad, so he was very lucky. Tenderly, he touched his cape. A light shudder passed through his back.

"Meta Knight?"

His attention was brought back to the mouth of the pipe, and with some slight bitterness. If that girl would just shut up for five minutes while he conducted a strategy, then Kracko wouldn't be attracted to the pipe. But no—she had to follow him from the village. He leaned forward slightly. "What are you doing here? Get away, Fumu!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"Isn't it simple? I'm waiting for Kracko to turn away from here so that I can catch it by surprise—no, get _out, _Fumu! You're going to ruin the whole plan!" Fumu had begun to hoist herself into the pipe, which Meta Knight vaguely thought to be admirable. She was pulling herself up on her own, until she slipped on a rather slimy part.

"You going to help me or not, Meta Knight?"

"I'd prefer not to. You're in danger as long as you're around me, Fumu, do try to remember that." Okay, either she didn't hear him, or she decided to ignore that fact. Either way, she continued to try, and, after a while, Meta Knight groaned in exasperation and helped her up, making sure to keep out of sight of Kracko, whom he sensed to be right above him. Success; she was not panting beside him. "Now, what are you _doing_ here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I was following you."

Now that was absolutely the worst excuse he'd ever heard. Well, it wasn't really an excuse, since it was the truth; but still. It was a worst-case scenario. An innocent child could have died, and he could have done absolutely nothing to save her. Kracko would have severely injured him if he had, which would have resulted in them both being fried. Then again, there were his—

Best not to bring them in just yet.

"The absolute worst thing you could do, at the moment. Kracko could have fried you, you know." His own concern surprised him. The last time he'd cared about anyone at all, it had resulted in him nearly killing that person. Not the best thing to do, actually; vaguely, he wondered how pure her blood was…

'_Alright, you're creeping me out, MK. Shut your mind out from mine.'_

'_**Oh, shut **_**up,**_** Daaku!'**_

"I know. I was just curious as to what you were planning."

It was then that they felt the rumbling of the earth, the vibrations in the steel pipe. Meta Knight immediately froze up and concentrated. The heavy footsteps were coming from the beach, and coming forward at a decent enough pace for the new threat to have large strides. As the vibrations grew more intense, he felt Kracko move. Just great; it was another demon, and more than likely, it was Blocky.

But this was also good. Kracko was distracted. They both wanted Nightmare's praise, so they'd be willing to fight for it. But it was also unfortunate; they both wanted him dead, and they'd also team up and be willing to bask in half of Nightmare's attention. Still, if he didn't show himself, then maybe they'd brawl it out. More than likely, Blocky and Kracko would be tied in power, but it was enough distraction for him to creep up on one of them and slay it for good. A recommendation came to mind.

Kracko.

Well, there were several reasons for it first, besides the fact that they absolutely loathed each other. Among these reasons was the fact that Kracko would strike out at it while he was attacking Blocky at any chance it got, which would have complicated matters severely. Not to mention the fact that, while he was distracted with avoiding Kracko's attacks, Blocky could easily come to and smash him in its hands, causing massive damage. They didn't get along well; but combine their power, and they were a force to be reckoned with.

He rubbed his hands together for a while, generating heat. The adrenaline of battle reawakened in him, just as it had in that fight with Octacon. He let lose a breath of warm air. The dank air about them made him slightly sluggish due to the muggy aura about them, but he did his best to ignore it. With that, he unsheathed his sword and let the electricity crackle. The ruby flashed with a faint light before it faded within the same moment; the lightning transformed into a blade. He looked at Fumu. "Stay here, will you?"

He didn't move for a while until he heard the starts of a battle between the demons outside. He continued to wait until he was sure that their attention was fully on each other; then he jumped out of the pipe and began running. Fumu watched after him, greatly confused, most likely wondering how he was going to reach Kracko, so high up in the sky…

…When he heard a startled gasp behind him as he unfolded his wings from his cape, dark, bat wings, and flapped them several times. Within the second, he was in the air, and quickly soaring toward the dark cloud, which hadn't noticed it at all. Neither did the demon on the ground; they were both too busy dueling it out.

**[Place Line Here]**

A sharp pain behind it, and Kracko instantly turned its attention from the demon beneath it. The Sword Beam hadn't been a direct hit, luckily, but if it knew any less, it wouldn't know that it was Meta Knight, and would probably have dismissed the pain as an ache. Sure enough, the old knight was soaring in the skies behind it, Galaxia in his hands, eyes red-hot. If Kracko had a mouth, it would have smirked; alas, neither it nor Blocky had one, so they had to make due with expressing themselves using their eye(s) and their attacks.

'Not dead, eh?'

Telepathy was a common aspect of any demon worth its salt. It was especially useful for any demon who couldn't speak, since it was one of the few ways they could communicate. Even demons who could speak via vocally could use telepathy to communicate secret information. Presently, Kracko enabled its invisible sneer to be embedded in the voice.

"Nope. Not one bit." Another Sword Beam that was canceled out with a bolt of electricity emanated from its yellow spikes was enough to put Meta Knight slightly off balance. Just as it was charging up a little more electricity to lash out at Meta Knight, a large boulder came flying at it. It struck it, as it was distracted by its fight with Meta Knight. Blocky still hadn't noticed Meta Knight! The idiot! Instead of shooting at Meta Knight, like it was supposed to, it redirected its strike toward Blocky, who was momentarily pushed back. When Kracko turned back towards where Meta Knight was, already charging another attack, there was nothing but an empty space.

Confused, Kracko looked around. Where had he gone? He was just there a second ago…

The gentle rustling of a cape from behind it was brought to its attention; it quickly turned around, but not in time to avoid Meta Knight's attack. Infuriated, Kracko gathered more electrical energy and launched it at Meta Knight in a boomerang attack. He avoided it; not realizing that it was going to come back around, he raised his sword. He began gathering energy in his sword…

…Only to be hit by the bolt of electricity that Kracko knew would come back around eventually. With an outcry of shock and sharp pain, his wings locked, and he fell, plummeting to the ground, spinning a little. Just before he hit the ground, he regained awareness and landed right-side up, similar to a cat. His wings were somewhat damaged; still, he ignored the pain and launched himself back up toward Kracko, who had to avoid several more attacks from Blocky.

'Stop, you fool! Can't you see that the object of _both_ our desires is right _here?!_'

Blocky paused momentarily before looking around Kracko. Sure enough, it saw something navy blue darting behind Kracko. In response, it got another heap of rock and snapped, 'Look out behind you, Kracko!' Then he hurled the boulder, missing Meta Knight by a whisker's width. The unsettled air threw Meta Knight off track, pushing him back, rolling in the air head-over-heels, unable to regain control as Kracko turned back around and struck Meta Knight with a bolt of thunder. The impact caused a small explosion, which sent Meta Knight plummeting uncontrollably to the ground. Old excitement welled up in Kracko; finally, it could kill its old nemesis! Finally, Meta Knight would die! Finally, Nightmare would give it praise so bountiful…!

Meta Knight hit the ground. He didn't get up.

**[Place Line Here]**

"Meta Knight!"

The outcry came from the mouth of Fumu, which left her confused as she started to run toward him, Bun following at her heels. Meta Knight didn't move, didn't react other than just laying there, still, silent. She was too far away to help him, and hoped that the demons wouldn't attack him while he was weak. Unfortunately, Blocky had other ideas, and slowly, leisurely, it raised its foot and let it hang over Meta Knight for several moments before slowly putting it down. Maybe, just maybe, she could get Meta Knight out from under there in time—maybe, she could save him! Maybe…

She was finally there; she grabbed Meta Knight's arms and began trying to drag him away. His eyes were a dark yellow, which told her that he was unconscious. She managed to move him a couple of feet before she suddenly realized… his color was changing.

His skin was quickly turning a dark black; his cape turning tattered and black, as well. The dark yellow eyes turned dim burgundy before they suddenly flashed and turned bright scarlet. Blocky's foot was directly above them; Fumu closed her eyes and screamed, covering her head as though that would help lessen the pain, expecting sure death and darkness…

Nothing happened. There was no impact.

After a while, she opened one eye and saw Meta Knight, using his arms to keep the foot from coming down upon them. He was struggling, but he was succeeding; while he was trembling slightly, he was making due. This was strange. For being unconscious mere moments before, he was unusually strong. She heard him mutter in a dark, vaguely insane voice;

"Sheesh, MK. One more second, and we'd all be dead. Damn you." Then he laughed and threw the foot.

Blocky fell to the ground on its backside, thrown off balance and taken by surprise. Fumu herself was shocked. The voice was different from Meta Knight's, a little more upbeat and cheerful, though very dark and brooding at the same time. If anything, she'd think that this was a darker version of him.

He turned around and looked at her, eyes still burning red. "Got a fire inside my stomach that's ready to roast this piece of rubble and cook the demon of the skies and thunder, get my lingo, yo?"

"Um…"

"Yo." He gave her a V-for-victory sign and leaped up into the air. His cape unfolded, revealing them to be frayed and tattered at the ends, but very powerful; he ricocheted toward Kracko, gripping Galaxia, which was now silver with a blue gem on the hilt. All the while, he was singing a song.

"Regrets collect like old friends,  
Here to relive your darkest moments—  
I can see no way, I can see no way…  
And all of the ghouls come out to play~"

He let loose a sword beam, which hit a little to the side, managing to dodge a stone and a bolt of lightning at the same time. He began deflecting several shots, seeming overjoyed and in a rage status at the same time, continuing to sing.

"And every demon wants his pound of flesh

But I like to keep some things to myself…

I like to keep my issues strong.

It's always darkest before the dawn~"

Here, he continued to avoid strikes and give his own. Occasionally, he grew bored and made them strike each other. One time, Blocky's rubble struck Kracko's eye, and Kracko's bolt on Blocky's forehead. Then they completely ignored him and began to attack each other.

The Meta Knight faker took the chance to sneak up behind Kracko and launch a Sword Beam, continuing to sing all the while. It hit right in the middle; he quickly flew away as Kracko began to expload.

"And I've been a fool, and I've been blind

I can never leave the past behind

I can see no way, I can see no way;

I'm always dragging that horse around

"And our love is pastured, such a mournful sound…

Tonight, I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground

So I like to keep my issues strong.

It's always darkest before the dawn~"

Here, he began a lonely chorus, coupled with a victory dance of his own doing. Blocky now began attacking him as he swooped down. Meta Knight easily avoided the swipes and the rocks, weaving like he was still dancing. A while later, he continued to sing, but not after saying something.

"Yo, this is Meta Knight speaking, not your one and only Daaku Meta Naito~

"And I am done with my graceless heart,

So tonight, I'm gonna cut it out, and then restart

'Cause I like to keep my issues strong…

It's always darkest before the dawn~"

Another chorus, and he used a sword beam to slice Blocky in half, but rather than exploding, it turned into four miniature versions of it. Daaku took out some dynamite and placed a quick bit on each of them, then he pressed a button, and they exploded. They didn't get back up, and he continued another chorus.

"Shake it up, shake it out!  
Shake it up, shake it out! Oh, woah!  
Shake it up, shake it out!  
Shake it up, shake it out! Oh, woah!

"And it's hard to dance, with a devil on your back,  
So shake him off! Oh, woah!"

He'd been dancing another dance of his, then after the song, he finally bowed formally and straightened up. "And that is 'Shake It Up, Shake It Out', also known as 'Darkest Before the Dawn', brought to you by Daaku, originally sang by 'Florence and the Machine'. You can go onto Youtube if you wish to hear the original song sung by the original singers. Now…" He looked around curiously, seeming to sniff around. "…Where is my damn blood?"

**[Place Line Here]**

While there were many oddities about Daaku, one advantage to him was that he was far more open than Meta Knight was, and he was far more relaxed. After he drank the blood provided for him a little hesitantly by Doctor Yabui, he was more reserved, and seemed to prefer gliding around and kicking back. He didn't mind Fumu talking to him, though he seemed a little annoyed with the king.

"So, who exactly are you?" She asked as soon as she got the chance. He was sitting in Tokorri's tree, chewing on a stick of celery, mask still on. He looked down at her, and she knew that he was smirking. Rather than speaking in riddles and annoyingly frequent brushing off, he said, "Name's Daaku. I'm MK's evil counterpart." A pause. "…Yo."

Another V-for-victory sign directed at Fumu, and she instantly figured out his character. He liked to cause trouble, and was very carefree and relaxed. While he did look the same as Meta Knight, he was also much stronger. His red feet were crossed in a lax manner; he was humming a tune. A tune, a tune that Fumu could have sworn she'd heard before… what _was _it?

"Daaku, huh? Nice to meet you. My name is—"

"Fumu, yes, yes, I've heard. You're the bookworm, ain't 'cha?"

Here, she frowned. "Bookworm?"

"Yeah. MK calls you that. He knows you read a whole lot of books just by lookin' at 'cha."

His way of speaking greatly reminded Fumu of Dedede, which made her feel sick to her stomach. Before she could comment about that, however, Daaku suddenly stood, hand dramatically on his chest, eyes slightly more dim.

"'I hate tha' Meta Knight! I might be a fat and ugly king who cares 'bout no-body but mahself, but still, I hate that demon! He gets on meh nerves so much that I've gotta make sure that 'is in my stomach before mah fiftieth meal of the day!'"

Fumu began laughing; as he spoke, Daaku began gesturing around wildly, twirling around and simply doing embarrassing things that he was directing toward Dedede. As he skipped across the branch, turning, gesticulating, speaking and acting melodramatic, she wondered if that is why Meta Knight hated Dedede; because Daaku did. He'd ended by patting his stomach and swiping at the ground in the manner of a cat kicking up litter. That made her laugh harder; after that statement, he said, "'And I treat mah servants like they're dirt, but really, _I'm_ _poop!'"_ Now he finally ended and fell back against the branch, arm dangling and waving slightly, limp as a corpse. A moment later, he looked up, eyes bright and alive. "Was that a good impersonation of our dearly beloved king?"

"Yeah, absolutely perfect."

"Grand!" Now he jumped down and met Fumu face to face. "Yeah, MK told you that he'd tell you something if you and he lived throughout that whole ordeal, so I saved you some confidential info, didn't I? Well, let me tell you a little something, too. MK kind of likes this place. I mean, he likes this _hill._ He finds the view relaxing." Here, he chanced a look around. Fumu couldn't help but notice that his eyes grew a little softer and calmer as he did so. She looked, as well. It was a great view of a meadow, the beach in the distance, the forest a ways away. The castle was hanging on for dear life at the edge of a cliff. A forest was close by, as well, and the town was in view. "Personally, I can't blame him. It's a pretty good view, for a place on the land. Might want to make a stone house right here." She felt him smile cheekily and turn back toward the tree, arms spread.

What was he doing? He was walking back toward the tree and began sliding around it, smooth as a snake. He was rambling on about ideas about the place, making Fumu's head buzz, though she thought that they were all very great ideas, to be perfectly honest. In the end, he stopped, eyes flashing. He blinked, she knew. Was something going on?

"Hey, MK gained consciousness! Sure, he's glad he's not dead and all. But he wants me back in clad chains and stuck behind bars!"

"Why? What're you talking about?"

"It's all very complicated, but for now, good-bye, pal! Remember, MK's also a bit like a sweet little kitten! Try rolling a ball of yarn with him around, and see what happens." She felt him wink, then close his eyes. All of a sudden, he was very still; then a visible change occurred. He began turning navy-blue, eyes turning amber. After a moment, the change halted, and she knew; before her eyes stood Meta Knight.

His eyes flashed white a split second, then they turned yellow. He looked at her a moment, liveliness completely gone, replaced with curiosity. "Fumu, tell me. What did Daaku tell you?"

**[Place Line Here]**

**WOW. This one chapter has 28 pages in it! The previous one had about 16 or 17! EPICSAUCE! Longest chapter EVER! *hosts a party; everyone's invited***

**Oh, and Guest. You wanna join? Nothing to it! Just *cough*gottabe13oroldertojoin*cough*. And if you don't have an e-mail account, you can't join, but if it's been deleted and you're already a member, then you can still get in. HERE IS LIVING PROOF. *points at self***

**I LOVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. PLEASE FEED ME SOME! (Yes, I do know that the fighting scenes get boring after a while. And that I mainly do work on fighting scenes and stuff like that. But still, I'll try to get some realistic stuff in. Maybe I'll do one of the ones in which Dedede gives everyone the pillows or the one with the TV or with the factory or something like that. Something that'll cause a bit of drama or something. Maybe even a whole chapter in which everybody hangs out? GIVE ME IDEAS, PEOPLE!)**

**Hope you enjoyed~ See ya! (FF2, out. *click*)**


	3. Haunted Night Pt 1: Scare in the Woods

Fumu's opinion on books had always been held more accountable than her opinion on any physical activity. That was why she preferred reading over playing soccer with her brother and his friends Honey, Spikehead, and Iroo. She was content with simply reading the book she'd brought along with her to the hill with her favorite tree that provided the best shade from the sun. Bun, Honey, Iroo, and Spikehead were playing soccer at the base of Meta Knight's hill. She really paid no mind to them until one of Bun's stray kicks head directly toward Meta Knight, who was conveniently passing by on a stroll. She looked up when Bun let loose a warning cry as the soccer ball headed for Meta Knight's head.

In an instant second, the ball went flying away in the other direction, towards the forest. Meta Knight's exposed purple foot was poking out from under his cape, which he quickly withdrew as he watched with keen eyes as it met the canopies of the trees. He himself seemed bored with nothing to really do. Bun looked at his sister and yelled, "Hey, sis, can ya get our ball for us? Thanks!" Bun then ran up to his friends, who were gathering around to have a little talk. Fumu sighed and closed her book, laying it right beside her. She stood up and noticed Meta Knight walking toward her. She crossed her arms.

"Sorry about that. Natural reaction, you know?"

"I guess so." Her flat tone suggested that she didn't want to hear anything from Meta Knight. She was annoyed because she had go get the ball for her brother right at the moment that she was reading about the coral reefs that were around Dreamland and how the different animals interacted with one another there. He seemed to get the message, for he fell silent, almost pondering for a while.

"…I'm coming along, too."

She stared at Meta Knight a moment before deciding that there was probably something in it for him. She sighed impatiently and said, "Why?"

"I just can't pass up the opportunity to annoy you, Fumu." He tilted his head, almost in a teasing manner. "Is that not good enough for you?"

"No, but I'll take it anyways. You've already annoyed me enough for a week, much less a day."

A week. That was how long he'd been in Dreamland so far. A week of agonizing annoyances, followed up by irritations, headaches, and horrible mishaps, like just now, when Meta Knight deliberately kicked that ball into the forest when he could just as easily stepped aside and let it pass by him. It would have been easier for her, by far. But no; he just _had_ to kick it so far away.

She sensed him blink and fall silent. He turned in the direction of the forest and began walking, mind now on something or another. She sighed and stood, deciding that he would at least be quiet about it all if he were in one of his thinking moods. He was certainly a puzzle—a puzzle with a million pieces. Sometimes she thought she knew something about him, but then he suggests something that contradicts her idea. Suddenly, it's like she's staring at a place where she put her idea, but where it was suddenly tossed from all existence, as though it were not even in that universe anymore. She'd quickly found that he wouldn't reveal anything if she kept on asking him, yet she still did so.

The only thing that she knew for a fact about him was that he was a demon. He didn't even try to hide it, now that it was spilled. Ah, that plus the fact that he apparently had a darker side. She saw that and met it personally. 'Daaku' really wasn't so bad, though he seemed a little unhinged, similar, in a way, to Meta Knight. Now, she pondered this as she followed in Meta Knight's stead. Both were stuck in their own individual thoughts; both basically ignored each other.

It was like a little truce.

* * *

The ball. The ball. The vague guilt, he couldn't ponder on, and nor could he ponder on his past. He just had to get the ball, and get the heck out of there. Just get the ball, the soccer ball he kicked…

Then it'd be over. He sighed.

Thoughts of his past flickered like a bad light bulb in his mind's eye, images of fire and blood, of battles and deaths, of silver and gold…

_Silver and gold._

The two key words. Silver and gold, silver and gold. When he realized he was seeing those two colors at the back of his mind, they continued to flicker past, over and over again on repeat. He groaned and shook his head sharply, raising his hand to massage the bridge of his nonexistent nose through the V-shaped visor in his mask. He closed his eyes. _Get him out of your head, Meta Knight. Get him out, get him out, get him_out…

"Meta Knight?"

Fumu's worried voice breached the walls of his mind; he opened his eyes and looked up at her dully. She was watching with him with a sense of concern. He didn't need this. Oh, stars, he didn't need this now. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

He lowered his hand and tilted his head slightly down, which he knew gave him a slightly intimidating look. "Why do you ask that, Fumu? Of course I'm fine. Let's just find the black-and-white ball that I kicked over here." He raised his head again and continued walking.

'_Black and white?'_

The sickening purr in which Daaku thought in made Meta Knight feel a strong clutch of annoyance brace his stomach. With a thought like venom, he responded. _'You know full well that was not what I meant, Blackie.'_

'_Really, now? Seems like you were considering me and Awai, for a second there.'_

'_Wh-Who considers whom?'_

The voice of Awai raked across his mind. Well, not exactly _raked_—more like blew across, since his voice was soft and gentle most of the time. Actually, it relaxed him. Sweet, innocent Awai's voice brought attention to Daaku, who was very protective over his brother. Now, Daaku spoke in a gentle purr, much unlike the one in which he used earlier with Meta Knight. _'Meta Knight thought black and white, Awai, so I naturally assumed he considered us.'_

'_Oh. I see. I think...'_

'_Okay. Now can you guys leave me be for a while, please?'_

Silence encased him like a comfortable cradle; he sighed blissfully and tried to focus on finding the cursed ball.

"Found it." Here, it was Fumu who spoke; her whole upper-body was stuck in a bush, since she seemed to be digging deep in it. Meta Knight raised an eyebrow and snickered; then he walked over toward her and pulled her out. If he wasn't hanging onto her, then she would have fallen back against the ground. When he was sure she'd recovered her wits, he let her go. She had the soccer ball in her hands. "Um… thanks, Meta Knight."

"No problem."

Now mute, the two of them began to walk back toward the waiting children. It took them about five minutes before something jumped from above them and hung before their faces. Fumu shrieked and cowered, dropping the ball and covering her head. She was deathly pale; Meta Knight instantly jumped back and landed beside her, mind bristling, eyes flashing white. It took him a second to realize that it wasn't even real; though it rattled slightly as it swayed in the cool wind, it was otherwise immobile. "…What is it?"

"G-G-Ghost…!" He looked down at the girl who answered, confused.

"Ghost? Looks like it's just a little miniature scarecrow set up here to terrify unwary travelers half to death."

"…Huh?" Finally, she looked up at him and met his now-pink gaze. He knew that she knew that he was smirking, and he knew that it was annoying and confusing her at the same time. He was simply one of those people who could pretty much predict the actions of someone he's known for a day or two. Meta Knight held out a hand to help her up; hesitantly, she took it, and he pretty much pulled her up. He watched her a moment, then looked at the fake ghost. Then he broke down in heavy laughter.

"Ahahahahahahaha! Ah, this is funny," he said after several moments, pretending to wipe a tear from his right eye. He snickered several more times before the adult villagers came out from behind the bushes, smiling and chuckling as well. "That was cool, what you just did. And very, very funny, too."

"Seems like _you_ were scared, too, Meta Knight."

Here, he paused. "…I'm sorry, what?"

"Seems. Like. You. Were. _Scared._"

"Alright, now _you_ listen here, you little mother—"

'META KNIGHT!'

He quickly stopped himself, forced his red gaze to dwindle down to yellow. Fumu was staring at him in a shocked manner, almost scared. He didn't blame her; he'd almost cursed out a stream of dirty words without second thought. "Sorry. Point being…" Now, he snapped in a voracious roar, "_WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? ! ME BEING AFRAID! ? HAH! IMAGINE THAT! ! !"_

He was satisfied; he inhaled a refreshing breath of air and crossed his arms. There was a stiff silence. Then the same villager said, "Are to."

"_Whaaaaat…_ ever, dude. Just agree to disagree?"

A pause.

"Fine, then."

"So, what're these puppets for, huh?" He looked at Mayor Len, who was still smiling cheekily and didn't seem to notice what had happened. Len was unusually cheerful, and his response actually _attracted_ the attention of Meta Knight.

"See, we're setting up some stuff for Kimodameshi!"

"Eh? Halloween, or something like that? Because I know that Kimodameshi means Halloween or something similar, but what does that have to do with these… _things_ falling from the heavens?"

"Meta Knight, don't you understand?" Mayor Len took several steps toward Meta Knight, hands behind his back. He seemed to be trying to explain something, but not knowing how. "See, it goes like this: Kimodameshi is the time of the year in which children go into the forest at midnight and conquer their fears as they try to get to the graveyard and find the Hero's Treasure."

"Why do they have to be scared?"

Buttercup, Chief Bookem's wife, stepped forward once and said, "See, now, if children don't see that there are things to be afraid of in the world, then they won't grow up to be sympathetic. Doesn't that sound fun?"

"That sounds very…" He paused to think of the proper word. Boring? Dull? Stupid? The fact that they simply wouldn't let it get through their hard heads would make pretty much every single word he could think of useless. He also didn't feel like saying anything positive; it would put a huge damper on his self esteem. Maybe something that could go both ways. "…Unique."

That seemed to satisfy them all; they let loose a breath of air as one and began muttering amongst themselves. Mayor Len smiled. "We're all glad to know that you like it, Meta Knight! We have several things that pop up in front of you when you step on a tripwire; skeletons, ghosts, scarecrows… and even a couple of spiders!"

His hand twitched. "…Is that so?"

"Yes! It's going to be so much fun!" Mayor Len pulled out something from his jacket and handed it to Meta Knight. He inspected it; it was the flier for Kimodameshi. "We really hope that you'll join in the scares, screams, and surprises!"

Buttercup handed another flier to Fumu, who took it haughtily before she stooped down to pick up the soccer ball. "That sounds good and all, but I'm not interested in anything like that."

"Oh, come now, Fumu, you just _have_to join in on the fun!" It was Meta Knight who spoke; he shook the flier lightly as though it would provide results. "You didn't seem scared at all when that ghost came from out of nowhere! Me, I _might_consider joining, simply out of curiosity. Unless you're too much of a coward."

"I'm not afraid!"

The sharp tone in which Fumu shouted in was enough to cause Meta Knight to take a quick step back. She seemed feed up with him and his teasing her, but really, he couldn't help it. He was alone, all alone. He couldn't resist the urge to annoy her and make fun at her and her weaknesses every chance he got. It was something he'd adapted from being friendless for months and months; from killing his best friend and watching another die before his eyes; for nearly killing his best excuse for a father, and not being there when another died, and when his father figure was captured by the demon beasts, probably being tortured at that very moment…

"Prove it, then," he growled. He himself was getting impatient with her sharp retorts and constant complaints. If it was someone else from his past, he'd accept it and laugh about it later, but at that moment, he simply didn't want to hear any of it. "Join in the Kimodameshi, and prove to everyone here that you're not terrified of your own shadow!"

She blinked, and her demeanor dampened. Most likely, she hadn't expected him to defend himself; Meta Knight gave himself brownie points for that. He crossed his arms, fighting down his red gaze. "Me, I _might_ join just for the heck of it. If you're too scared, don't expect me to defend you when goblins and skeletons come to life and lunge at you." He looked at the flier and turned around, beginning to walk away, contemplating something.

* * *

The fact that Meta Knight had purposefully annoyed her made Fumu angry, but she fought down the anger and focused on wondering whether she would join or not. Kimodamashi sounded stupid, but she didn't want to be afraid for no good reason. She asked Bun and the kids about it, and they said that they'd join; Honey with Spikehead, Spikehead with Honey; Iroo on his own; and Bun only if Meta Knight would join up with him. Hearing that everyone else wanted to join prompted Fumu to do so, as well.

She was presently walking up to Meta Knight's house to tell him the news when the sound of an explosion prompted her to hurry up. She broke into a run, seeing smoke coming out from the windows of the house; she didn't even knock on the door, instead swinging it open. The black smoke made her gag; she heard coughing noises somewhere within the smoke. The open door let the smoke escape quicker, and she finally saw the scene that unfolded before her very eyes.

Meta Knight was collapsed on the ground; dazed and on his back; he seemed to be perplexed, watching the smoke as it steadily cleared up. Fumu walked up to him and stood over him, which caused confusion to unfold in his amber eyes. In a curious voice, he said, "Fumu? That you?"

"Yes, Meta Knight. What are you _doing_ in here?"

"Ah… nothing. Just trying to fix the engine of my ship. You?"

"I just came to tell you some news—wait. Where are you fixing your engine?"

With a slightly shaky hand, he pointed at the table that was tucked away neatly aside, with a smoking steel engine set in the middle of it. He let loose several more coughs as he rolled to his side and pushed himself up into a sitting position. "It's harder than it looks without the blueprints, even though I personally made the design for it." Now, he stood to his feet and shook his head free of the stars and pixies that he probably saw. "It's difficult to find elixir on this planet, but I'll have to make due with what I can find in the surrounding area. It's much more bountiful in the vastness of space, but it makes most demons feel drugged. Personally, it makes me tired when I'm in a planet's atmosphere." He yawned, as though to prove his point, before coughing up some more smoke.

He walked back over to the table and covered up the engine with a white cloth and grabbed another one to wipe off the sot on his mask and armor, shaking it off of his skin and from the V-shaped visor. "So, what were you saying? News?"

"…Yeah. You know the Kimodameshi? All of the kids are joining, so I am, too."

"Grand. And I care… why?"

"I'm keeping an eye on by brother, and he's going to stick around with you."

"You're crazy, you know that?" He discarded the dirty rag in his hands by throwing it on the bed and looked at her directly. "You're crazy. How do you know that I won't run away from you guys? Really, now. I can be cold and heartless."

"Well, you've been a soldier in the war, right? Just pretend like we're on a mission to retrieve an unknown treasure from the depths of a haunted forest before the demon beasts retrieve it first. Think you can do that?"

He blinked. "Pretend. I can do that. I've done it a million times."

Fumu tilted her head inquisitively and started toward the bed. When she reached it, she sat down and looked at Meta Knight. "Can you really?"

"Yes. I've pretended like I wasn't insane before. I've pretended that I was okay for my leader's sake. And I sure as hell's pretended that I was loyal to Nightmare when really I wished for the Star Warriors to win."

"Prove it." Here, she stood to her feet. "What would you do if you were attacked by a ghost?"

"Search for a silver weapon and see if it was just something in disguise. If not, I'd just plain run away until it stops haunting me."

"And if it was friendly?"

"Maybe have a little cup of tea with it, or something like that."

"What would you do if you were trapped in a room filled with venomous snakes?"

"Use my Sword Beam to break out of jail."

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"Yup. I know. Not as much as my leader, though." He sighed as though going over happy memories. She greatly suspected it was so; his eyes shone a bright baby blue, a pattern going over it as though one were watching the ocean floor. "He was perfectly insane."

"Um… okay…" Fumu swallowed harshly. If Meta Knight was happy to have an insane friend, then she was probably insane herself in some way or another. She began to make her way to the door before a thought came to her. She paused at the frame of the door and turned to look at him. "Wait. You keep on mentioning your leader. How close _were_ you two, exactly?"

He looked at her. She felt like his mind was screaming at her, '_Why do you ask?'_, but he inhaled a deep breath and let it all out in a sigh. He lowered his gaze from her emerald eyes and looked at the ground. "…He… he was… like a father to me, let's put it that way." He turned his gaze toward the window and gazed out across the horizon, where the sun was just beginning to set. His eyes turned a sad, somber blue, dark and brooding, as though it was something he couldn't let go. "…But what does it matter now? He's dead. Unless that's another lie he made me believe."

"…What if he was alive?"

The question startled him; he turned his gaze back toward Fumu, who took another step back in the house. He seemed to think for a moment; then he said, "I'd bloody kill him."

"I mean what would you _really_do?"

His gaze held hers for a while, then he looked down, as though uncertain as to what to say. He looked back at her after a moment, then looked back down. He simply couldn't seem to come to a conclusion; Fumu sighed and turned around, saying over her shoulder, "When you figure it out, feel free to tell me."

She left, leaving Meta Knight to think on his emotions and what'd happen if he really were alive.

* * *

For the past months, all he'd seen and heard was darkness and silence. Or was it a few years…? Days? Weeks? He knew it wasn't hours; if it were, he wouldn't miss the light so much. His golden sword had been taken from him, and he'd been left to rot in the highest-security demon cell in Nightmare's abode. He didn't have any company, save the demons who slid horrible-tasting and smelling food and water through the slot under the door and the demons that practically forced him to eat. Personally, death was the better option, to him. But the demons literally stuffed it down his throat, so it wasn't really much of an option. Then they'd leave; the empty plate and wooden cup would go, as well. That meant that, soon after the first week, the slot stopped being used altogether.

He himself had no bounds, so he was free to move about his cell in whatever way he pleased. The lack of light, however, meant that he occasionally ran into the walls and almost fell into his pure wood bed, no pillow, no sheets. Just heavy wood, so that he got many aches and pains and stayed cold through the night, even when he wrapped his currently pale-green cape around his body tightly. He could knew that the air conditioners were on simply for the purpose of keeping him cold; often, the only sound he heard was the superbly faint rattling of the devices as they pumped out frosty air.

He never had any visitors besides the same old demons who fed him and made sure he wasn't trying to escape. The first few times he'd tried, he'd been whipped severely. It wasn't the pain that made him stop attempting to escape; it was moreso the knowledge that he had no way to escape to begin with. And he hated it, he hated it so very much, he could kill.

He did, too. In fact, he had to in order to survive. Then there was the _torture_ as the demons performed numerous experiments on him, taking blood samples, pumping some liquids into his blood stream until he was both hot and so cold at the same time.

He knew what he ate, too. It was meat, and it was raw, and it was horribly wet and sticky and strangely saccharine. He had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach that it wasn't steak. In fact, if anything, it tasted so… so…

He couldn't describe it.

Whether he'd been there for months or years on end, he hadn't been brought out of the cell once, save for torture and injections after he was sedated. It was always impossible for him to work out a route of escape. He yawned, laying back in his bed, relaxing the best he could, when the door suddenly crashed open.

He jumped to his feet and snapped, "Who's there? !", even though he was quite positive that it was the prison guards. Frankly, he didn't care; he just wanted to kill, he wanted revenge, he wanted escape. He was sick of the darkness and the hell he was in; sick of being a dog on a chain stuck to a tree. He wanted death. He wanted freedom. He wanted to die.

A heavy pounding of feet became his answer, and he was pulled off of his feet and being dragged forward. He squeaked, kicked at the unknown creature, and was repaid with a sharp pain at his back. He screeched like a howler monkey as realization dawned that he'd been stabbed by a sharp blade. He felt the sticky, warm wetness blossom down his back, be repelled by his cape, somehow. What had they _done_to him to make him _hurt_whenever he tried to remove his cape? !

"Shut up, General."

"Damn you," he growled at the voice, though he couldn't see. His eyes burned with a ferocity unmatchable. The sound of swords being drawn and a battle axe being wielded was enough to make him fall silent, though hesitantly. He stepped back, trying to ignore the pain in his backside and the wetness of the blood that he felt. Instead he began sucking on his glove, still wondering where he'd tasted it, and what that taste was…

He was punched right where his wound was. In return, he grunted, but he moved slightly. "You're comin' with us, General, whether you like it or not."

"Where?" he growled, malice etched into his voice like a stone carving. One of the demon's eyes flashed, and he winced at both the light of the red eyes and at the light they gave off.

"You ask no questions, here. Ye just follow our orders."

"I'm _nobody's _little pet, you idiot. I follow no orders!" Despite his useless protestations, though, he was shoved along coldly, out the door that he literally ran into, and jolted along by the end of the sword of the foul creature.

* * *

As Fumu tapped her foot impatiently at the entrance to the forest, she noticed how the villagers were beginning to mutter and whisper in excitement. Bun was beside her, hands behind his head, which was turned upward toward the stars that twinkled in the night sky up above. There were few clouds in the night sky, which made for a spectacular night to view the stars; however, the cappy girl wasn't paying much mind to the stars, as she was watching the road impatiently. Finally, she groaned.

"Where _is_he?"

Her complaint made Bun look at her and give off a sly smirk in her direction. In response, Fumu widened his eyes toward him impatiently; her little brother was already getting on her nerves, and they weren't even in the forest! "_What?"_

"Just a thought, but… are you and Meta Knight…?"

It took Fumu about a minute to register the meaning of what he said; once she did, she blinked. Uncrossing her arms and putting her hands on her hips, she snapped, "Why would you say that? ! Meta Knight and I are _not_going out! Besides, he's probably too old for me!"

"Who's too old for who?"

The bland voice from right behind her made her turn around sharply. Meta Knight stood there, a baseball bat over his shoulder, an amused glint in his eyes. Fumu frowned. "What's with the bat?"

"Protection." Here, he shouldered the bat. The wood made a clanging noise as it hit his metal shoulder blade. Fumu crossed her arms again; irritation flashed in her emerald-green eyes dangerously.

"A bat for protection? You have a sword, Meta Knight. And where did you get the bat, anyways?"

"Stole it a while back. Seriously," he added quickly when Fumu narrowed her eyes sharply; "nobody was going to buy it! There were not even any baseballs where I got it from. Besides, my leader would have made such an amusing entrance before coming into the face of danger…" His voice faded away; the amusement left his eyes to be replaced by bitter sadness. Gaze training toward the ground, he lowered the bat from his shoulder, the tip touching the ground. He didn't speak another word.

Before Fumu could reply, Mayor Len spoke up. "Okay, it looks like everyone's here!" he said with a smile; "Now we should go over the Kimodameshi!

"First off, the path through the woods is completely straight! You only have to brave the obstacles ahead to get to the graveyard, where the Hero's Prize is buried! There will be many scary things in there; things that crawl, wriggle beneath your feet, give you a cold shiver!"

"Objection. A more accurate way of speaking…" Meta Knight seemed to recover; he swung the bat over his shoulder once more and coughed once, as if to clear his throat. "Ahem…. 'There will be things such frightening and worrisome as ghouls that would cause you to shudder with fear and alarm as they pass through you, a cold air suddenly encasing you like a tight cocoon, to name a single one. The screech of a banshee could be heard in the distance, making you jump out of your skin before you nearly fall dead to the ground before a flock of bats swoops out from the air and land on your face, knocking you to the ground. As the rest of the bats pass over you, you hear a clicking to your right; when you turn your head, you find a gigantic spider watching you with a hungry look in its four eyes. Its eight brown, hairy legs come toward you; you scream as it bites your arm, as you feel the poison of its jowls spreading toward every inch of your body. And then, as it climbs on top of you and begins to wrap you in a cocoon of silken threads…" He stopped.

Fumu only then noticed that his eyes occasionally flashed white as he described the scenario with the spider in more detail than required. He paused for a moment; then he suddered unpleasantly, as though something were bothering him. Then she knew that he smiled cheerily and looked up from the ground he had lowered his gaze to. "And _then,_you wake up just to find it was all a bad _dream_! Right?"

The children were shaking; even the villagers turned pale. Bun was hiding behind Fumu, scared out of his wits by the scenario in which Meta Knight described. Then, with a nervous air, Chief Bookem cleared his throat. In an arid voice, he said, "Um… thank you for the description, Sir Meta Knight…" _Sir?_Since when was it '_Sir'_? "And now… er… Iroo, why don't you go first?"

"Huh?" Iroo looked up from his position on the ground, where he collapsed in a near-faint as Meta Knight spoke. Repositioning his lopsided hat and straightening his blue shirt on top of a longer white shirt, looking at Chief Bookem in the eyes, he seemed a little afraid. When Bookem said what he said again, he shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Not that I'm scared or anything, but… sh-shouldn't the people who are _more_scared go first? Like Spikehead and Honey, for instance."

"Oh, phooey. If you're not afraid, then why don't you go first to prove your point?" Bun indignantly spoke; with his arms crossed in a way similar to Fumu's, he looked down at Iroo in a way that probably intimidated him, since he grew a shade paler. He shook his head, stammering about how he didn't have to prove himself, before everyone else eventually joined up on Bun's side. With a sigh and a nod, Iroo stood to his feet and brushed himself off; turning toward the forest, he inhaled a deep breath and started walking along the path. When he went out of sight, the villagers began to mutter.

"Man, Iroo's pretty brave…" muttered Spikehead. Meta Knight cast him a side glance when Honey scooted a little closer to him. Fumu was sticking to watching the forest anxiously.

A scream suddenly pierced the night, making absolutely everyone—including Meta Knight—give a start and a few scattered yelps and squeaks. Iroo came running out of the forest, screaming, kicking up dust as though all of hell were at his heels. He collapsed right in front of the group, who, still a little freaked out, looked down at him as he tried to regain his breath and tell them what happened. "It was… a… a ghost… it… it jumped out… from the trees…"

Fumu stepped forward, having regained her wits, and helped Iroo up. When Bun snickered, apparently attracting Meta Knight's attention, she scowled at him, which prompted him to cover up his smirk. Even as he did so, Len began chuckling himself; smiling, he stepped forward toward Iroo and said, "Come, now, Iroo. I thought you said you weren't scared. You were only scared of a puppet, Iroo!"

"A-a puppet?" Here, Iroo blinked; then his face broke into a timid smile. "I was afraid… of a puppet…"

Meta Knight turned his gaze back toward the forest, eyes now a light-green. Fumu watched him for a moment, wondering what was going through his mind; a while back, she'd figured that green meant that he was thinking, or that he was being serious, or both. The baseball bat was still over his shoulder, as though he was about to step up to the plate and hit a homerun. Finally, his eyes flashed a yellow shade; he began walking toward the forest. Over his shoulder, he called, "Hey, are we just going to stand here talking all night, or are we going to get the show on the road?"

With a blink, Fumu looked at her brother, who ironicly looked at her at the same time; then they began to follow him.

* * *

"So, Meta Knight, what's up with the blood thing? What does it do for a demon?"

Bun looked up from where he was looking at the ground, excited over the whole prospect of Kimodameshi. Meta Knight glanced at her; since they entered the woods about five minutes ago with the only scare being from the puppet that Iroo triggered, he'd been looking around the woods curiously, apparently unfazed when the bushes rustled or when the owls hooted. His eyes flashed brighter than usual, and he gave a start when the uncommon howling of wolves reached their ears, but he seemed to be moreso excited by it rather than startled. However, when she mentioned the blood, he grew visibly touchy. Amber eyes locking onto her, he asked, somewhat troubled, "What about blood?"

"What purpose does blood propose to a demon?"

"Oh." His sickly moon-yellow eyes looked back toward the road. Impatiently, Fumu asked again; this time, he let loose an impatient growl. "You really want to know? Why not perform some experiments?"

"Because, you're…" She hesitated, which prompted him to look at her. His steely eyes locked on her; once again, she got the feeling that he was reading into her soul from the windows of her eyes. "…Because… I guess I consider you to be a friend."

Just as something stirred in his eyes—restlessness, hate, dislike; possibly something else entirely—he looked away, toward the forest. A realization came to her mind as she imagined his eyes changing from yellow to vengeful red; she said, "Hey, aren't red, yellow, and blue the primary colors?"

"What of it?"

"Well…" How to put this…? "…Your skin's blue… your eyes are yellow most of the time… but they were red with Daaku, and his skin was black… so… does that mean that your light half's eyes are yellow and his skin tone is white?"

His gaze snapped back toward her, a mixture of green and orange imbedded in them; he seemed bemused, thoughtful. "Where did you get that thought, Fumu? Who told you that?"

"Wait, who's Daaku?" Bun looked between them, confused as one could ever be. The fact didn't help that he hadn't even met Daaku face-to-face; but he _had_heard Daaku's announcement that the song was sang by him, so how could he forget that? Fumu looked at Bun incredulously, unable to believe—unable to _accept—_that he couldn't remember that speech. Meta Knight just watched him, bored. His eyes turned back to yellow. Bun must have realized that they weren't going to tell him, since he let loose a sigh and put his hands behind his head. "Whatever."

Meta Knight swung the baseball bat he still had at an acorn that fell down from the trees when a squirrel passed overhead.

Suddenly, he stepped on something, and something came out from above the trees. Fumu screamed and fell down on her back in her shock; Bun screeched and turned tail, running away. Meta Knight himself let loose a small gasped and stepped back before he recognized the design and ran tail after Bun, shouting at him to stop. He was faster, and before Bun could go two meters, he grabbed the strap of his overalls and planted his feet in the ground, stopping him dead in his tracks. Bun turned around sharply, panicked, and screeched, "Lemme go, Meta Knight! There's a ghost!"

"Bun, I know you're a kid and all…" he started, gaze darkening; "But _really._ Afraid of a freaking mannequin."

"A what?" Bun stopped in his tracks and looked at Meta Knight with confusion in his voice. Meta Knight let him go, seeing that he wasn't going to try and flee any more. He looked behind Meta Knight and saw the scarecrow thing. Bun chuckled sheepishly. "Eh, heh… I knew that."

"Ri-ight."

Meta Knight sighed and stalked back over toward Fumu, who was just starting to recover her wits, and practically pulled her up. Bun stalked on ahead, now ignorant of the creature, even laughing at it. "C'mon! Let's not waste any time!"

"Oh, you should have seen the look on your face, Fumu. You were terrified."

Fumu glared at him and snapped at him to shut up before hurrying after her brother. Meta Knight chuckled and followed last.

* * *

"Kimodameshi? Why have I never heard of that?" The king looked at the flier that Escargon had just then handed toward him in a moderately clueless manner. The snail shrugged and said;

"You've got me there, sire. I only found out about it a few minutes ago when Waddle Doo told me that Meta Knight and the kids were participating in it."

"Meta Knight's in it? Well, whatever this Kimodameshi thing is, we'll make it his worst nightmare!" The king laughed victoriously and stood from his throne, a sneer evident on his face. "Let's get somethin' from Nightmare Enterprises!"

* * *

There was confusion etched into his mind, as though it were engraved in diamonds. He was in a room with iron nails on the floor, against the wall, so that he couldn't walk nor sit down nor lay down on the ground, like what he wished so dearly to do. This wouldn't do at all, he thought darkly. Dissatisfaction blossomed in his mind like a desert flower after the rare rain. The next person he saw, he'd kill.

The door opened, a nightmarish creak that didn't bother him. His lavender eyes, once filled with kindness and compassion, flashed with pure insanity and anger. "Took you long enough," he said with a smirk; then he lunged at the demon and bit his pearl-white fangs into its neck without hesitation. The demon only had time to let loose a gasp and a whine before it died, and he began drinking its blood. What he ate was the raw flesh of the demon, and he didn't pause once at the disgusting taste on his mouth. The blood was impure, and that was common enough. He was used to it.

All too soon, he felt a sharp stab at his back; he quickly jumped back and snarled at the other demon beast, eyes narrowed and blood dripping from his mouth, as though he were a monster. The griffon-line demon beast glared down at him with cold red eyes and growled before prodding him once more. "No, prisoner." Then it tapped the top of his head, rather sharply, and Arthur quickly fell silent, as he was snarling in a rather unsavory manner. Still, though, he glowered at the demon coldly. Somehow, he had adopted a couple of the behavioral traits of a dog.

_It's me against the world,_ he thought with a smirk.

* * *

_It's me against the world,_ he thought with a sigh. So far, the only frights that they'd had were with a couple more ghosts, and they were immediately dismissed as being fake. A couple times, there was a variety, but it remained pretty much the same all around.

Then, something… odd.

It started off when Fumu began asking Meta Knight what his greatest fear was. He looked at her as though she was crazy, yet she continued pressuring on the subject for a while. Shaking his head, Meta Knight sighed and continued to ignore her. Then she stepped on a trip wire, and something… different fell.

Bun and Fumu let loose a small shriek of shock and stepped back before realizing that it was just a fake, gigantic spider. They sighed and laughed a little. "Man, that was scary," thought Bun out loud. Fumu nodded in agreement and turned to look at Meta Knight, ready to say something smart to him, when she realized that he was stiff, pale. A shudder seemed to continuously pass through him as he stared at the spider, wide- and white-eyed. His breath seemed to be caught up in his throat.

Then, the unthinkable. He fainted.

They just stared at him, shocked at the unexpected reaction.

* * *

"Not!" he snapped at Bun, eyes flashing an irritable mahogany. Bun only snickered and continued to prod at Meta Knight's severe case of arachnophobia. He just sighed, annoyed.

Fumu observed him for a moment. He was still a little pale. His eyes still had the faintest sense of whiteness in them; he seemed a little jittery, as well. It gave her a thought. "Meta Knight, why are you afraid of spiders?" Meta Knight gave her a side glare, which made Fumu sigh and rub the bridge of her nose. Why did he have to be so stubborn?

"I need to pass the time…" she heard him mutter. Fumu looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"This is long, boring, and stupid. Whenever I'm in this kind of situation, I sing a song off the top of my head." Meta Knight's amber eyes dimmed until they were almost black, which told Fumu that he had them closed. Vaguely, she wondered what song he was trying to remember. If it was that one that Daaku sang a week or so ago, then she simply wasn't interested in it. '_Every demon wants his pound of flesh'_… that wasn't true for all of them. Meta Knight didn't, did he?

She was so caught up that she hadn't realized that he was singing until Bun prodded her out of her thoughts and said, "Hey, sis, listen to this." Then he pointed at Meta Knight, who apparently was having a bit of fun of his own.

"…But he doesn't want to write the message yet~

"On a mountain he sits, not of gold, but of sin,  
From the blood, he can learn, see the life that he took  
From a council of one, he'll decide when he's done  
With the innocent! On his face is a map of the world!

"A map of the world~"

He continued to sing for a bit before apparently boring of the song and starting up on another. This continued for a while until they came across a particularly eerie scene. Small balls of purple flames, licking at the air, were wandering around, almost as though they were lost spirits searching for a way to pass on. Meta Knight paused in his singing (the very middle of 'Jingle Bells') and looked at them for a moment. "They're fake," he said after a moment, tilting his head slightly and chuckling. "Will-'O-The-Wisps would be more concerned with luring you away from the path or into a river. These ones just aren't moving one bit, except in small, continuous circles."

Fumu stared at Meta Knight for a moment, as though in disparagement; then she said, "And you know this _how?"_

"Demons are required to have an extensive knowledge of the supernatural. It's not _my_ fault that I know a lot more about this stuff than you do." Then he picked up a rock and handed it to Fumu. "Here: Throw it at that bush over there." Then he beckoned with a tilt of his head at a blueberry bush a decent ways away. A little confused, but willing to comply with his wishes, she nodded and took the stone, threw it at the bush, and got a startled exclamation in response. Meta Knight chuckled. "Ah, one of the villagers. I suspected as much. Though, this show is a little believable," he admitted with a shrug; then he continued along. "Come on. Let us not waste any more time."

Fumu and Bun looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Meta Knight. Meta Knight still had the bat, and was now using it in a way similar to a cane.

Fumu sighed. She would probably never understand Meta Knight, so why should she even try?

It wasn't long before they came across another ghost, but this time, it was floating in the air towards them, letting loose nerve-racking moans that made Fumu and Bun shudder. Quietly, they began to speculate over the likelihood that this ghost was the real deal; they hid behind Meta Knight, whose cape wasn't even tense one bit, which told the two of them that he wasn't afraid or anything of the sort; in fact, the green gaze that he held was thoughtful. Then it flashed red for a moment. "No need to fear," he said, taking several steps towards the alleged ghost; "This is merely someone in a costume, trying their utmost best impersonation of a ghost."

"How do you know that for sure, Meta Knight?"

He shrugged. "The air temperature didn't change." Then he jumped into the air and kicked the ghost's head in an uppercut. The ghost flew through the air with a caterwauling sound before landing on the ground a decent ways away. Meta Knight charged towards it and almost caught up to it before it ran into the bushes. He stood instead where it had landed, seeming to consider something for a moment; then he shrugged and headed back towards the two, eyes a cheery blue. "See? Fake. Let's go."

Fumu sighed. She would absolutely never understand him, after all.

* * *

Meta Knight tilted his head and frowned when he saw the graveyard, which was apparently where the prize was. He honestly wouldn't have minded so much if he hadn't been scared half to death by that stupid fake spider. The thought of the beast made him shudder; large, brown, hairy, eight-legged, multi-eyed creature that's probably following him now… quickly, he looked over his shoulder and was relieved to find only Fumu and Bun there, looking out to the graveyard. He had been doing well to conceal his fear, but the spider sharply brought him back from calm and tranquil to almost paranoid; and he knew it wasn't real, a creature that size, but if he saw another one of them again, then he was likely to drop dead. At the least, he could go without another fright like that for the rest of the night. A little nervously, he cracked his knuckles, which attracted the attention of Fumu and Bun.

Somewhere along the way, he lost the bat, which was odd, because he didn't remember dropping it at any time, except maybe when he fainted. Immediately, he felt his cheeks burn a little, and he had to fight to keep the yellow in his eyes from tinting purple. How embarrassing, to be fooled by a mere mannequin! He had to get over his fear sooner rather than later, but as much as he tried, he couldn't. For too long, he had been bitten by them, felt their poison running through his veins and just barely managing to find the correct antidote before time ran out. That was only in Nightmare's fortress, no less; he actually had to _make _the medicine to cure himself when he was abandoned in the wild. He cleared his throat slightly and said, "Well, any clue to where we're supposed to go now?"

"How about we follow the arrows?" suggested Bun, pointing at a red arrow pointing to the left. Meta Knight turned slightly to view it and sighed. His mind was so cloudy and tired already, he hadn't even noticed the arrow. That plus the fright that spider gave him… speaking of which, shouldn't that have made his mind race? Shouldn't that have fed him adrenaline? No matter; at least now they had a lead. Quietly, Meta Knight told them to hurry up before following the arrows.

The arrows were somewhat confusing, pointing right sometimes, left at others, crisscrossing and making them go in circles often enough to cause him to question his sanity. He glanced at the hill, an empty, barren hill, and pondered how it was a good place for a haunted house before he returned his attention and stopped. There was now an arrow on a tombstone pointing downwards, and right in front of him, there was two shovels and gritty earth that had obviously been recently disturbed. He felt his muscles tense slightly in anticipation of the dead awakening—a trick by Nightmare to cause him to believe that he had completely gone mad—but nothing happened. His hesitation obviously confused his companions, who asked, "Meta Knight, is something wrong?"

Oddly enough, it was Bun who asked this question rather than Fumu. He looked over his shoulder and nodded his head; then he said, "There's some shovels that we can use to dig right here."

"What if it's a trick? By Nightmare?"

"I already suspected that. If they were going to strike with the living dead, believe me, I would be the first to know." That didn't reassure her, but she just nodded her head and dropped the subject. He returned his attention to the unsettled earth and muttered, "Fumu, Bun, you take shovels."

"What about you?" queried Bun, whom Meta Knight could tell tilted his head in confusion. Rudely, he waved his hand dismissively and said something about him having his hands. They hesitated before they went around him and grabbed a shovel each, and began digging. Meta Knight joined in when he was sure that the earth was soft enough not to cause too much damage and shoved all the dirt aside when he needed some more space to put the filth. Eventually, Bun was the one to strike gold; his shovel made a strange sound that couldn't have come from the earth itself, and to Meta Knight's ears, it sounded like a wooden chest. "Hey, I think we got it!"

"Keep digging!" said Fumu excitedly, increasing her pace. Meta Knight, however, sighed and said, "Hold up."

Fumu looked at him in confusion and paused. "We don't know what's in the chest, or how old it is." He was bored, and his voice reflected it. "If the chest is old, then we could damage the merchandise. We wouldn't want that, would we?"

Fumu hesitated before shaking her head. "What do you suggest we do?"

"Hands, anyone?" he suggested, putting up his gloves and smirking. Fumu looked a little disgusted, but she nodded hesitantly and put down the shovel. Bun was far more enthusiastic about this turn of events, and he immediately began digging at the dirt with his bare hands, which actually served to amuse Meta Knight. When he was sure that the chest was exposed enough to retrieve safely, he said, "Stop," and both Fumu and Bun did so. Afterwards, he surveyed the chest.

It was rather old, based on the grain, and it had apparently been there for a while. The dirt had sunk into random cracks in the dark oaken chest, and the golden paint was faded. Golden. His heart sank suddenly, and depression suddenly washed over him as he set it on solid ground. There was a lock; and they didn't have the key. No matter. He could easily lock picks, as it was something that he was trained to do in the past, when he was supposed to learn something other than fighting. Quickly, he removed a bobby pin and stuck it in the lock; Fumu and Bun watched carefully and let loose a delighted squeal when the lock clicked. He hesitated slightly; then he opened it.

Of all the things to be in there, it was just a stupid pin saying, 'The Brave Badge' in whatever language they spoke. Disappointment and fury snapped to life in his stomach, but it was quickly subdued by the lingering grief he felt about the gold. He took it out and handed it to Bun, whom he suspected to be the only one out of the three to be even glad about obtaining it. "Here," he muttered dryly. Bun let loose a happy laugh and put it on his overalls, which honestly made him look ridiculous. Fumu paused a moment; then she said, "Is that all that's in there?"

"Yep."

"Just great."

Meta Knight suddenly realized that the moon was blocked out, and he looked up, surprised to see the sky filled with storm clouds. He blinked before a drop of rain landed on his mask, and he heard it rather than felt it, before rain began falling from the sky. How odd. Just mere minutes ago, it had been clear and moony; not it's nothing but dark, cloudy, gloomy. Grey. Dull. Lifeless. His list could go on and on to forever. "Just great," hissed Meta Knight, wincing slightly at the cold feel of the rain. He unfolded his wings and used one of them to shield himself from the rain, stepping back and using the other to shield the other two from the water. He could last a decent ways that way, but he couldn't last all the way back to the other side of the woods. They needed shelter, and soon would be better than never. "We need to find a place to keep until the rain stops."

"Yeah, we don't want to catch a cold," said Fumu, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering. Meta Knight nodded his head, agreeing. A sudden flash of thunder gave him a sharp trill, and he instantly looked towards where it came from; in the pure white instant of the lightning and the crack of a thunder bolt, where there was nothing but the idea of a haunted house, there now stood, to his surprise, an old-looking house, multi-storied, and, yes, admittedly unsettling. But they had no choice, Fumu was right; they couldn't catch a cold, and he had to get away from the freezing drops of water, which was by now pounding against his wings. "Let's hurry," he said. Then, quickly, he rushed over toward the house, causing for Fumu and Bun to have to trail after.

"Was that there before?" asked Fumu, her breath short. Meta Knight shook his head, shuddering; he was relieved when he could finally shake his wings off because of the roof over the porch. He cared enough, at least, to make sure that the water wouldn't get on Bun and his sister. Meanwhile, Fumu knocked on the door. "Hello? Is there anyone here?"

"We need to stay until the rain stops!" exclaimed Bun, his hands cupped to his mouth. There was no answer, no indication that there was even anyone inside; then Fumu sighed and said, "I guess no one's home."

Suddenly, as if in answer to her words, a sharp gust of wind forced the door open, and Meta Knight quickly folded his wings close to his body, unable to focus on turning them to his cape. A sharp breath of wind in the opposite direction, however, got caught in his wings, and apparently Fumu's lighter than Bun is, because the both of them crashed into the house with the door slamming behind them. Dazed and confused, Meta Knight lay on the ground, stars spinning around his head. Meanwhile, Fumu was pounding on the door, screaming for Bun to try to open the door, and Bun explaining that he can't. "I'll have to get some help!" he yelled, and Fumu told him to hurry. Meta Knight was just regaining his senses when he heard Bun hurry away via vibrations in the ground. Groggily, he sat up and rubbed his head.

"What happened…?"

"The wind blew us in here," explained Fumu, sighing and sitting down against the door. Finding himself crawling to sit next to him, he suddenly realized something.

"We're trapped, aren't we?" he asked. Hesitantly, Fumu nodded her head, and Meta Knight sighed.

They stayed like that, sitting next to each other and trying to think of a way out, for five minutes, Meta Knight not wanting to be stuck in another cage, Fumu obviously just worried for her brother; and admittedly, yes, perhaps Meta Knight was also worried about Bun. Maybe he wanted to get out and return to civilization, because he was scared, although he was fighting down the white in his eyes with success.

He was immediately brought back to reality when he noticed something like a will-o-the-wisp drifting down, small, purple, and haunting. He could immediately tell that it was real, which made him stiffen when about ten more followed suit. Fumu blinked her eyes awake, at long last, and also looked before letting loose a startled shriek when about a hundred more paused at the top of the staircase before arranging themselves into a ghostlike figure. Meta Knight paled, and for a moment, his eyes flashed white. They needed to run—he could sense the hostility in the being, the anger, and the rage at having intruders. This ghost wasn't fake, wasn't a holographic image, wasn't even a figment of their imaginations.

It was real.

"Run!" he snapped, scrambling to his feet and grabbing Fumu's arm. The ghost turned a bright, blood-red shade, its suddenly-existing mouth open in an enraged, bone-chilling scream, and bore down on them.

* * *

**I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. I've just sort of lost interest for a while, and wasn't too sure exactly how to transition it, and then I started reading the Hunger Games and reawakened my writing techniques. SORRY. SO SORRY.**

**Anyways, I'm too bored to say anything else right now. I just wrote that entire last part today, and I'm tired, and stuff. So... see ya!**

**Oh, and Guest, to join, all you gotta do is press 'Sign Up', or whatever it is beside the 'Login' part in the upper-right corner. By the way, who's ever heard of Neopets? I think I'm becoming addicted to Kass off of it. ^^**


	4. Haunted Night Pt 2: Eyes in the Night

**I have a quick question; who the heck voted Dedede x Fumu on my poll? That's like a crack pairing I randomly made up. XD If you read my stories, can we PM so you can tell me why? X"D You guys crack me up like an egg for breakfast.**

**And for those who voted 'Something Else' on my favorite Kirby pairing poll, could you PM me and tell me who your favorite Kirby couple is? ^^ Thanks!**

* * *

_He was immediately brought back to reality when he noticed something like a will-o-the-wisp drifting down, small, purple, and haunting. He could immediately tell that it was real, which made him stiffen when about ten more followed suit. Fumu blinked her eyes awake, at long last, and also looked before letting loose a startled shriek when about a hundred more paused at the top of the staircase before arranging themselves into a ghostlike figure. Meta Knight paled, and for a moment, his eyes flashed white. They needed to run—he could sense the hostility in the being, the anger and the rage at having intruders. This ghost wasn't fake, wasn't a holographic image, wasn't even a figment of their imaginations._

_It was real._

"_Run!" he snapped, scrambling to his feet and grabbing Fumu's arm. The ghost turned a bright, blood-red shade, its suddenly-existing mouth open in an enraged, bone-chilling scream, and bore down on them._

* * *

Meta Knight's reaction was swift and accurate.

He quickly wrapped his cape around the two of them and thought only of the door that he vaguely saw in the corner of the room. The piercing cold washed over him, sinking briefly into his bones and every fiber of his being. For a split second, the floor seemed to vanish before reappearing beneath their feet. The cold dissipated sharply just as Fumu let loose a sharp squeak. Meta Knight rapidly drew his hand and grasped the door knob, forcing the entrance open. He shoved Fumu through, first; then he glanced behind him, feeling a small sense of satisfaction when he noted the confused look that the creature's wisps were reflecting. He quickly followed after Fumu, closing the door tightly behind him.

"What was that?"

Her breath was short, forced. Meta Knight was panting himself, feeling a little drained from having to teleport the two of them. He hadn't had to do that for a long time; he'd almost forgotten how much effort it took.

"It was an actual, real ghost," he responded, annoyed when he himself also sounded out of breath. He shifted his cape into wings and stretched them, wincing when an ache racked its way up his back. He turned back toward the door, deep in thought. "I… I think we should keep going."

"I-Is that blood?" stammered Fumu suddenly, pointing at something at the base of the dual staircases. Meta Knight looked and slightly shuddered. Skulls and dead bodies decorating a fountain appeared to be bleeding, from cracks, eye sockets, and their own mouths. An eerie laughter floated through the air as the blood flowed into the fountain. Surprisingly quickly, it overflowed and began snaking its way towards him and Fumu. Meta Knight hissed in disdain.

"I don't know, but we _need _to get moving, Fumu!" The girl looked at him and quickly nodded. Meta Knight turned towards another door and began walking at a rather harried pace, tense and, yes, panicked. Secretly, he was horribly afraid, completely enveloped within his terror. He couldn't let Fumu see that, though—he had to take the initiative and get the both of them through this, and he couldn't do that if she was too anxious to listen to him. Fumu followed closely behind him, close enough that he could feel her right on the edge of his cape. Meta Knight opened the door and quickly ushered her in just as the ghost began to enter the room before. The door closed behind him, and they were enveloped in darkness.

"What—what was that—?"

"Be quiet, Fumu," he hissed, covering her mouth. He could have sworn that he heard a click somewhere around them… perhaps it was just his imagination playing tricks on him? But no—there it was again. Somewhere in the immediate area, something sounded to be starting. _Click… click… click, click… click, click…_

_What the hell _is _that?_

"Meta Knight," mumbled Fumu, pulling away from his grasp. "What is that sound?" So it wasn't his mind playing tricks on him, after all; she could hear it, too. In the complete darkness, he could just barely make her out beside him, looking around blindly, afraid—and she was mere inches away. Figuring out what was making that sound would prove to be costly. He couldn't leave the girl's side; though the idea of even _considering _that made him almost feel sick.

The sound, on the other hand, was slowly accelerating. Something seemed to jerk with a semi-mechanical sound, another wound up… and, just as a low, menacing chuckle resounded through the air, he realized where they were.

They were in a room filled with hellish clocks and devices.

Sirens started up just as red and blue lights came on, showing off a wide array of activating machinery—or were they real? They looked to be real enough—the malicious smile on the bloody clowns, the empty eyes of the owl, the fur and the fangs on the wolf; and everything else about the room seemed terrifying enough to give him nightmares. The clowns all began to laugh, jumping out at them and bouncing back from their posts on the walls. Cuckoo clocks bounced in and out of their little door frames, tweeting and chipped and old; the owl continuously spread its wings and shrieked, its beak opening and closing with agonizing acuity; the front part of the wolf raised its head and began to howl, drool dripping down from its jaws…

And the entire time, in the midst of all this chaos, the sirens continued to screech, growing higher and lower, higher and lower, and the lights flashed red and blue, and Meta Knight had to close his eyes tightly and cover his ears to keep from becoming deaf and blind. No use—the sirens' lights and the sound still shone through as crisp and clear as before. Beside him, he could feel Fumu tremble. If he was nearly becoming deaf as hell, he could only imagine what would happen to her if she had to bear through with even a little more of this. Quickly, he wrapped his cape around the two of them, and they swiftly teleported out of the room, leaving behind the stench of sulfur and the probing lights and the earsplitting wailing.

* * *

Bun ran as fast as his feet could take him to the castle. Behind him, he could hear the faintest sounds of sirens starting up. Even in the epicenter of the forest, away from the haunted house that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and approaching the castle that boded cautious safety, it still rang true in the night air. It was even sharp enough to be heard, faintly, at the entrance of the castle. The rain still fell; and the drawbridge was drawn. Bun yelled.

"Hey, Waddle Doo! Let me in, please!" he cried, managing to hold back his terror. The one-eyed form of the Waddle Dee Captain peered out from behind a pillar, looking confused and curious. In his hand, he held a spear; in another, he held a sandwich that made Bun's stomach growl uncontrollably. He had forgotten to eat before they headed out to the forest, and now he was tired, aching, and afraid. Doo seemed to think for a moment before ordering the Dees to lower the bridge for Bun.

The bridge was old and creaky. It had been there since before Bun was even born, even before his mom and dad took up residence in Castle Dedede. He could remember that, when he was able to walk, he was afraid that the bridge would break under his very feet leaving him under the mercy of the currant. It took a long time to get over that fear, but now, with all that happened within the span of a half an hour, he felt afraid of it all over again. Slowly and hesitantly, he began treading across the bridge, cringing whenever he reached a particularly creaky area. Finally, after what felt like forever, he found himself on the other end, and he quickly ran around the castle halls, calling for someone to help him.

"Hello! Is anyone here? Someone, please help! Mom! Dad!"

A figure jumped from above, and Bun immediately leapt back with a cry of fear. The figure was a shade of apple red, and his eyes were a rather startling shade of raw umber in the darkness. Bun relaxed when he recognized the knight. "A—Alpha Knight… you-you scared me," he stammered uncertainly.

The red knight straightened. He was the same species as Bun and Fumu, though he was… different, really. His skin was red, for one, and his hair was short and cropped, black. He wore leather armor for whatever reason that sometimes changed depending on what he felt at the time he was getting ready for the day. Alpha Knight was the champion of Castle Dedede; even though he just returned from some sort of travelling adventure and was just getting resettled, Bun had a feeling that Alpha could easily take down Meta Knight single-handedly. His sword was made of pure black obsidian, of which he had an uncanny fondness of. When he spoke, it was premeditated and flowing. "What's happened, Bun?" he asked.

"My—my sister's in a haunted house with an alien that crashed here a couple of days ago in the middle of Wispy Woods!" he yowled.

Alpha nodded calmly, which caused Bun to, despite his fear, feel a surge of admiration. No matter what the situation was, Alpha Knight could be counted on to remain calm. It made everyone around him do the same. Never once had he seen the knight panic. "I see. Lead the way, but do so quickly."

"R—Right!"

* * *

Dedede was already complaining by the time three seconds of rain passed.

"I don't like this here rain! Get me outta it right now!" he bellowed, strangling Escargoon in the process. The overgrown snail was already feeling dizzy; his lungs were already burning for air. Maybe it had something to do with how tight Dedede's grip was.

Lightning flashed in the distance, and the next thing Escargoon knew, he caught sight of an old, abandoned house on the top of a hill, way off in the distance. He pointed a clumsy, clammy finger in that direction, and Dedede looked; immediately, he let Escargoon go and began running towards it, laughing in fatty glee. The snail sighed and followed after slowly and hesitantly.

The house looked old and abandoned, as was explained before. The wood was darkened and creaky when the two of them stepped on it. The windows were cracked, caramelized and dirty. The atmosphere, with the rain and the thunder and the lightning, was heavy and unwelcoming. Escargoon couldn't help but feel a weighty shiver pass through him.

Dedede paid no mind to the dark atmosphere. Instead, he pounded on the door, demanding to be let inside. There was a long, stiff moment of silence. Then a loud sound broke it, and Escargoon jumped with a small shriek. Looking around quickly, he noticed Dedede rubbing his nose, looking at him with a funny look in his eyes. "What, you're afraid of sneezes now?"

"That wasn't funny! Ya nearly scared me half to death!" snapped Escargoon.

Dedede opened his mouth to retort when the door slowly creaked open, and a person that had the same body shape as Meta Knight said, timidly, "C-can I help you?"

He was a cute child; he was small and coal black, with red eyes that looked like they were bordering on brown. The thing that caught both Escargoon and Dedede aback was not only the fact that he had no mask on, but also because of the sad, painful glint in his eyes, like he was getting ready to cry at any moment. On his right arm, there was a long, bloody gash that was still bleeding. Escargoon immediately estimated it to be several hours old, and decided that it was infected. His feet were grey, and he wore a black, tattered cape that looked as though it had seen better days.

"Yeah," said Dedede, shoving the injured boy aside and striding in. "Let me in, that's what you can do ta help me!"

The boy yelped when he landed on his arm, and tears threatened to break through, though he quickly stifled them. Escargoon hesitantly stepped in after the king, eyeing the boy nervously. Something was odd about him, something unnatural. It was similar to the feeling he got from Meta Knight, only it was somehow worse….

"I-please, you can't be in right now… my master hasn't said I could…" He gulped, and quickly looked away. Escargoon noticed that he was trembling, slowly and softly. The crack of thunder made him flinch heavily, enough to stumble back to the ground. _What a coward._

"I don't care what your master has to say 'bout anythin'!" yelled Dedede, not looking at the boy who was slowly standing to his feet. "I'm the king, and what I say goes!"

"I-I'm sorry… I have to go…" whispered the boy in a quiet voice, looking around nervously. "Um… please, erm… make yourselves… at home…" Hesitantly, he pointed upstairs. "There's a… working shower, and… a bedroom up there… I… I think you can stay—at least, until the rain stops…" Then there was a flash of lightning, and he was gone.

Escargoon was freaked out. Where had the kid gone? He was there just a second ago! Maybe the house was haunted—? No, that wasn't possible! He hadn't seen a ghost yet… unless that kid was a ghost… the thought made him gulp. Dedede, on the other hand, was completely ecstatic. Quickly, he grabbed Escargoon's wrist and yanked him along, hollering, "Thanks, weirdo," not realizing that his words fell on the deaf ears of the night.

* * *

Alpha's reaction was swift. Just as the door was about to shut, he threw his obsidian sword, and it got lodged in the crack. He winced slightly at the thought of it being chipped, but was pleased with himself at the fact that his plan had worked.

Several moments before, he and Bun had attempted to reopen the door on their own terms, but no matter whether they pushed or pulled, the door held fast, held in place by expanded wood from the rain and a thick carpet on the other side (he could tell there was a carpet because of several fuzzy things peeking out from underneath the door frame.). When Alpha attempted to break the door down, he was simply knocked back to the ground, which was admittedly embarrassing. It was all but impossible to enter without breaking in.

It was a lucky break when the king and his advisor came along and somehow managed to enter the house without a problem. From what Alpha Knight could tell, the house selected its victims with strange intentions. And it had a very odd way of doing so; after all, Bun told him that a strong burst of wind flung open the door, and somehow, it separated him from Fumu and Meta Knight long enough for the door to close, trapping Fumu and the stranger inside. This was further proven when Dedede and Escargoon were actually _allowed _in the house by a pitiful-looking Ponyan child that probably wasn't even real. Then again, maybe he was. The fact that he was barreled over by Dedede suggested this was the case. That plus the eyes; not even a ghost could reflect such realistic sadness and pain like that.

"Come on," he said to Bun, and he strode from around the side of the porch, the boy following closely behind him. The door was still open, though when Alpha attempted to move it, he realized that it was startlingly heavy. How had the wind been able to move it so easily? And that boy, as well? He opened it wide enough for Bun to pass through, and swiftly, he followed, grabbing his blade just in time to keep it from being smashed to bits and pieces.

He looked around the dark house. A flash of lightning briefly illuminated their surroundings. The ceiling was high and flat, made of wooden planks that creaked and groaned with every step he made even on the first floor. If the king was up there, then he dearly hoped that the penguin would fall through the flimsy floorboards. Stars knew he deserved it. The carpet was unusually thick, and it muffled the sound of his feet. Thick and grey. Macabre, gruesome paintings lined the walls, depicting skeletons and bloody carcasses. He couldn't believe that anyone—especially a _child—_would ever want to live there.

There was a low moan, but aside from that, there was no sound. The mansion was dead and quiet, with nothing but the pattering of the rain to tell of the existence of noise.

The absence of noise unnerved him more than if he had seen a ghost.

* * *

Fumu awoke from unconsciousness soon enough, but when she did, she was very confused.

She remembered a blanket of darkness followed by an unbearably cold feeling… she had tried to breathe, but there was no air to inhale. She felt alone, and it felt as though all of the warmth had gone from the world…

The next thing she knew, she was leaning on Meta Knight, gasping heavily. He held her tightly, and she accepted what little warmth he offered. She must have lost consciousness, somehow. And they, by some means, must have gotten out of that room while she was.

At least, she thought that, until Meta Knight let her go, rubbing the side of his head as though he had a migraine. "Um, maybe I should have warned you beforehand, but there was no time. Sorry." There was a pained look in his eyes, as though he could still hear the sirens ringing and see the lights flashing. For a moment, Fumu felt sorry for him. She hadn't ever thought that maybe he was more susceptible to sounds and sensitive to light than she was. She could only imagine the toll that it took on him. Then she felt angry.

"What was that?!" she snapped, making him wince. "What did you do, Meta Knight?!"

"I… I only teleported us out of that room…"

"You couldn't have warned me about that beforehand?"

"Hey," he hissed, his eyes flashing burgundy, "if I had stopped to warn you, then I would likely have gone deaf and blind. Believe me, it's _not _a combination that you want to have for even a part of your life, especially if you're a soldier, which I am." Then he huffed, crossing his arms. "Besides, I think that you'd have been in a similar situation as I would have been. Would you rather be cold for a moment and unable to breathe for a second, or would you rather be blind and deaf for a week or two?"

Fumu opened her mouth to retort, but then she closed it, seeing movement behind him. Meta Knight jumped slightly and turned, sharp and quick, his eyes flashing a brighter yellow in his alarm. When a flash of lightning occurred, he relaxed; it was only Bun. "What—what are you doing in here, Bun?" he stammered, relaxing. Bun smiled shyly and said, "What, did I scare you?"

"As if," he said, just as Fumu exclaimed, "Bun!" and ran up to him, practically tackling him to the ground. Her little brother suddenly shouted in shock, sounding somewhat embarrassed. Then Fumu saw some burnt umber eyes watching her with a somewhat amused-yet-calculating leer in them.

He caught Meta Knight's gaze almost immediately. Alpha Knight immediately drew his sword in the same movement that Meta Knight did, although where Alpha Knight's was simply a glistening obsidian blade, Meta Knight's cackled with electric energy, lighting up the room with a swift variation. Alpha's figure was illuminated, and Meta Knight suddenly seemed hesitant when he saw him; it faded when the light vanished, and he growled, "Who the heck are you?"

"Let me ask the same thing," hissed Alpha Knight, narrowing his eyes. "Who are you? Do you have something to do with what's going on here?"

"No clue. You? Who are you?"

"Alpha Knight," muttered Fumu. Meta Knight's gaze flicked toward her, suddenly seeming confused—a look that was completely uncharacteristic for him. "Meta Knight, this is Sir Alpha Knight. He's King Dedede's champion. Alpha Knight, this is Sir Meta Knight, the Star Warrior who saved us at least three times before in your absence."

"Absence? Why hasn't anyone told me?"

"You didn't ask." That was Bun. He sounded somewhat smug.

Fumu had never seen Meta Knight look so confused and bewildered. Actually, she didn't even think he knew what confused_ was._ His gaze seemed to flicker for several moments, thoughtful and mystified; Alpha took the opportunity to cautiously step towards him, eyes narrowed. Finally he said, "…Oh."

"So _you're_ the Hero of Dreamland I've heard so much about?" mocked Alpha Knight, his voice taunting. Meta Knight only shrugged slightly, seeming somewhat upset and put off. "You don't seem much like a hero, do you? You look pathetic—and you're so _small._ It's ridiculous." Meta Knight would usually snap a spiteful retort in response, but Fumu was surprised when he only shrugged and said, "So? You think I'm the person who's going to save the universe from the clutches of Nightmare? Unfortunately the fate of the universe depends on a kid."

The melancholy tone suggested that Meta Knight's words were meant to mean something. But, for the life of her, all Fumu got from it was that Meta Knight was not the messiah, that the messiah was either a child now or would defeat Nightmare when he or she grew up. But why the melancholy pitch?

Alpha scoffed somewhat grudgingly, sounding impatient. "Do you really think I care? Did you do anything to the kid?"

"Alpha Knight!" snapped Fumu keenly, leering at him with sharp green eyes. He looked at her, his body uptight and sardonic. How could he accuse Meta Knight of such a thing, when it was plainly obvious that she was perfectly fine? Was he really half-blind? "How could you say something like that? Meta Knight has been protecting me this entire time, since we first walked in this house. He hasn't left my side for a single moment—he made sure that I was safe! You know he's a demon—" Alpha scoffed "—but it doesn't mean that he's evil, Alpha. Maybe you should give him half a chance to prove himself."

Alpha Knight trained his gaze on Meta Knight, narrowing his eyes. "I'm not so sure I can even spare that much for him."

Over the years that Fumu had known Alpha Knight, she figured out that he wasn't exactly very trusting. Meta Knight was the same way, but it was easier to gain his by spending time with him. Actually, she honestly didn't know much about Alpha at all—she knew Meta Knight more than the Castle Champion, and she knew Alpha Knight since she was _born._ Alpha Knight offered few chances to get to know people, and that was one of the most annoying things about him. As she opened her mouth to retort, Meta Knight's gaze brightened, and he cut her off quickly; "Oh, I see. Cynical type, aren't you? That explains things a little… but don't you think that, if I wanted to kill Fumu, then I would have done so all ready, while there was no one in the way? That would be the best way, wouldn't it?"

"You could be trying to gain the people's trust," countered Alpha Knight. He seemed moderately surprised when Meta Knight laughed and responded, saying, "I all ready have their trust. Their trust is worthless to me. Trusting people lands you in trouble—too much trust throws you off-track and can get you killed."

Alpha took a step forward, threateningly, but Meta Knight's only response was to sheathe his sword; the electricity illuminated the room once more, outlining a baffled Castle Champion, an annoyed blonde girl, and a confused young boy. Meta Knight tilted his head as he wrapped his cape around himself, his eyes suddenly playful-like. "I have sheathed my sword, Sir Alpha Knight, in an act of a selfless attempt to avoid physical conflict. I in turn request you to sheathe your sword and display your acceptance of this act." Alpha Knight paused, unsure, his grip tight on his obsidian sword. For a moment, Fumu thought that he would attack anyways. She was pleasantly surprised when he sighed and sheathed his sword.

"Very well," he muttered darkly.

* * *

"Here," said Meta Knight, "is apparently the stairs down to the basement. There might be a teleporter down there, if it's Nightmare. If not, we'll just have to find some way out on our own." Alpha Knight scoffed, where Fumu and Bun nodded their heads attentively. "With any luck, the fat king and the slow snail will be down here, trapped in a dungeon or something." Even Alpha Knight had to chuckle slightly at that comment.

Meta Knight looked at Alpha Knight warily. He didn't exactly like that red-skinned knight, but it wouldn't really hurt to have someone else there who could use a sword. At least Meta Knight didn't feel the burden of having to protect the children on his own—at least he had some backup. But now he was anxious because he felt that Alpha Knight would attack him when his back was turned.

Right. He was dubbed a Knight because of his code of honor, and one of the Codes was to never attack an enemy while his or her back was turned. Feeling very slightly reassured by that fact, Meta Knight turned towards the door and pushed it open.

The hinges squeaked heavily, obviously unoiled and unused. The door opened to the sight of a curving stairway dimly lit with torches. The stone was cracked and uncared for. No surprise there, considering the condition of the rest of the house. It didn't cause Meta Knight any discomfort, although he could see that Bun coughed nervously, and Fumu shuffled uncomfortably.

Meta Knight stepped into the stairway, and jumped when he heard metal clanging onto the stone floor. He looked down and was surprised when he saw a video camera, knocked over by his foot several steps down. He paced down to get even with it and stooped down, picking up the camera. He opened it and turned it up. The battery was low, but there seemed to be a video recently recorded.

Fumu looked over his shoulder nervously. "What is it?"

"No idea," he muttered. The silence prompted Alpha and Bun to stalk closer; after making sure everyone was watching, he played the video.

* * *

_Dedede was running. What from was unclear, but he was. He was running, and he was running with a limping gait. Upon closer inspection, Dedede's foot was twisted in an unnatural angle. Someone was running behind him, too, panting and sounding out of breath. In the din, Escargoon's voice said, "Hurry, sire, run! It's getting closer!"_

_"I know, Escargoon!" panted Dedede. He looked over his shoulder fearfully; sweat was beading down his face like a waterfall. His voice carried a heavy tremor, one induced by fear. His eyes widened, and he cried out, "Watch out, Escargoon! It's right on your tail!" But it was too late; with a yelp, the camera fell to the ground with a loud THUD; Dedede stopped, panting with fear, struggling to accept the hard-cold reality of it. A round creature with no noticeable features, save coal-black skin, slowly approached Dedede, who, while backing up, stumbled to the ground heavily. "S-Stay away from me!"_

_"I'm sorry," came the response, sounding even more scared and shaky than Dedede; "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but my master would whip me if I didn't follow his demands." And the weird part was, he actually sounded apologetic._

_"I don't care! Keep away!" Dedede screamed as the small creature somehow gathered the strength to drag him away toward an unknown destination. "Where are you taking me?!" he yowled._

_"The basement." There was a small pad of footsteps, and the screen was enveloped with blackness._

* * *

"...A boy?"

Fumu looked at Meta Knight, confused. "What do you mean by, 'a boy'?" she asked, but Meta Knight didn't answer. He was shaking. He was uncertain. His eyes flickered to and fro; he couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. Was he standing on stone, or in the vast void of space, or was he standing on nothing? He could hear some faint voices, but he couldn't really hear them. It was like he was listening through ears filled with cotton.

All of a sudden, he felt enraged. How could Nightmare stoop so low as to using children? Moreover, how could Nightmare be so heartless as to actually _beating _them?! "A boy!" he yowled, slamming himself into the wall. "Nightmare is using a child! He's using a boy to do his wishes!" He slammed his fist into the wall, as if begging it to obey his silent plea. He let loose an unearthly wail, like that of a ghoul screaming in dismay.

It took him five minutes to stop, and even then, he continued crying. He couldn't stand it anymore. For Nightmare to have stooped so low, so low as to forcing an innocent boy to obey him...

It made him feel sick.

She was relieved when Meta Knight finally stopped. Even then, she was surprised at his reaction. Fumu had never suspected that Meta Knight was so sensitive on the subject of children being forced to work. Maybe it made sense; he knew firsthand, after all, how cruel Nightmare was. He could actually pity the child that was on the video where she couldn't.

It was a pity, though, that the child worked for Nightmare. It made him an enemy, and if he got too much in the way, he would likely be killed by Meta Knight's reluctant blade.

Why Meta Knight felt so strongly about the child, though, Fumu didn't know.

"Meta Knight, we have to hurry," she mumbled. He was still shivering slightly, looking as though he were trying to restrain coughing and crying and screaming in his complete fury. Fumu hesitated. "Who knows," she added indecisively; "we might actually be able to save that kid from Nightmare's grasp." He looked up at that, and the old spark was in his eyes. She only just now realized what it was. It was defiance.

"...Okay," he rasped, clearing his throat. "Dedede is in the basement... likely having his eyes clawed out, or something."

"He deserves it if he is," muttered Bun. Meta Knight's gaze suddenly snapped, and he hissed, "No, Bun. Blindness is something reserved for the truly wicked. Darkness is not something to be tampered with-she's sharp and sly and won't hesitate to harm. Not even Dedede deserves the eternal pitch-black." The demon shook his head and looked back towards the staircase. "Just try wrapping a blindfold around your eyes for a week, and see how far that gets you. It's awful."

Bun was clueless, but Fumu understood completely. Several months before Meta Knight came to Dreamland, her brother got sand in her eyes and made her temporarily blind. She had to wear a blindfold for four weeks, to avoid irritating her eyes with light. She still had nightmares of being swallowed by an inky blackness, and she still had to sleep with a nightlight.

But why would Meta Knight, who was a creature of the dark, be anxious about blackness?

Meta Knight led the way down the stairs, which were encased in an empty silence. Somehow, the silence made Fumu feel nervous and anxious; it obviously affected Bun, as well, because he clung tightly to her. Even Alpha shuddered slightly, leaving the only one to be unaffected the demon. It was strange, really, that Meta Knight was so level-headed. Finally Meta Knight broke the silence. "You know, I hate the dark. I always have ever since a demon slashed my eyes. Nightmare wouldn't replace them for a whole year."

That explained his anxiety of the dark, at least. Fumu was surprised that he hadn't grown terrified of the dark. If she had to go that long with blindness, she would probably lose her mind. Then again, Meta Knight probably coped with it on a daily basis.

"Whoa..." said Bun, awed. Alpha Knight nudged him impatiently, likely giving him a message. _This isn't something to be impressed about, _Fumu saw in his eyes. After that, Bun shut up.

Meta Knight finally stopped at a thick oak door, and looked at it musingly, as if he were debating what to do. It was obvious, however; they had to open the door so that they could retrieve the king and Escargoon so they could figure out a way out of there. Maybe he was simply lacking the courage to do so.

Finally he took the final step, and he reached the door. Almost as soon as he did, a scream on the other side of the door pierced the dreary, warm air. Meta Knight winced slightly, his eyes looking a little paler, though not quite white. Fumu jumped back, and Bun whimpered. Alpha tensed in anticipation as he reached for the hilt of his blade.

* * *

"Keep away from me!" screeched Escargoon on the other side. He sounded panicked and out of breath; Meta Knight attempted to turn the handle, but it was locked. Fumu opened her mouth to suggest something, but was cut short when Meta Knight reached into his right glove and removed a lock pick. He stuck it in the keyhole and worked through it, quickly becoming more aggravated as the seconds passed. Finally, a long-awaited _click _sounded, and Meta Knight shoved the door open.

Escargoon was being chased by a Ponyan child. Escargoon was scared, too, trembling as hard as his slimy body would allow. They stopped when the door creaked open, and the boy, with his back turned toward the door, and slowly turned, beginning to shake. The Ponyan had coal-black, pale skin, and his red eyes were bright and afraid. This was what confused him; why would he be chasing someone if he was the one who was afraid? _Because of Nightmare_, he thought darkly. No child deserved the fate of being the servant of the Emperor of Darkness.

Alpha Knight unsheathed his sword within a moment and strode toward the child, who quickly scampered away, whining. As Meta Knight watched with more horror than he felt with the fake spider, Alpha Knight raised his sword, prepared to strike and land a killing blow. He closed his eyes swiftly, shaking and trembling.

He was incredibly surprised when a familiar scream took place of the boy's. He opened his eyes narrowly, and what he saw made his heart run cold.

Fumu had pushed herself in front of the child, and Alpha's sword had struck her arm instead of the boy's neck.

* * *

"F-Fumu," stammered Alpha, every bit as surprised as she was. The pain was burning excruciatingly, as though she were struck with a bolt of lightning rather than a simple blade. It was strange, though; there was a certain coolness to it, as well, underneath all of the blood and ripped tissue. She found herself trembling, her eyes wide and her heart racing wildly, every beat like a racing horse.

Meta Knight was at her side in an instant. He knelt down beside her and grabbed her arm. She expected to see anger in his eyes at her foolishness and for him to treat her wound callously, but instead his hands were gentle, and his eyes were filled with a sensitive light, asking the burning question over and over again: _Why did you do that?_ Bun was at her other side, asking her something, maybe if she was all right. He looked so worried.

Despite his tender handling, Fumu found herself crying out with pain. Maybe it was only Meta Knight's concerned gaze that kept her from pulling away. Maybe it was because Meta Knight had experience with these kinds of wounds. The boy began crying—Fumu could barely register it through her cloudy haze of pain. After several long moments, Meta Knight said in a voice that pierced through her hurt, "The wound is long, but not deep." He sounded relieved as he reached into his cape and removed a roll of bandages. "But it still needs to be treated for infection. Yabui would likely know what to do."

Fumu bit her lip as Meta Knight wrapped her wound in a cocoon of bandages. Her injury throbbed and was sore where the wound rubbed against the fabric, but she said nothing. How could she tell him about her pain when he already knew, when he understood it a million times better than she did?

It was her first major injury, and she used it to save the person who was trying to harm Escargoon, who she disliked, and Dedede, whom she hated. And yet she felt glad that she did; it was Alpha who had to feel guilty. And he did—actually, he looked devastated. As for the child she rescued… he was shaking and trembling, crying heavily as if a dam suddenly gave way and a rush of emotions came flooding in. He said, "It's my fault, it's all my fault, I'm so sorry, so sorry…"

"It is all your fault!" snapped Escargoon, seeming angry and scared. "It's your fault that you tried to kill me! It's your fault that you tried to sacrifice King Dedede!"

"I-I didn't," he stammered, shaking. "I-I was only following orders—like my master said—"

"And what might those orders be?" demanded Escargoon, frowning with narrowed eyes. The boy winced, and he looked away, shaking.

"Both of you," said another voice, darker and more snappish, "for the love of the stars, be quiet!"

They both froze and looked at Meta Knight, Escargoon with annoyance and the boy with fear. Fumu also looked at Meta Knight, but with sympathy, not dislike or fright. "Escargoon, where is Dedede?"

"He's—um," started Escargoon, frowning. "He's… on the other side of the door over there." Here, he pointed to another door, one with blood pooling underneath the crack in it. _Oh, no, _thought Fumu, her mind clearing. _Dedede's probably dying. What are we going to do?_

Meta Knight looked at the blood and seemed to contemplate for a moment, his eyes turning a thoughtful green. Finally he said, "Okay, let's go. Alpha Knight, have your sword ready." Alpha was hesitant to comply—he didn't often take orders from anyone—but he obeyed. Fumu struggled to stand to her feet, holding her arm close to her chest. "Fumu, stay here. You need to rest."

"Sir Meta Knight," started Fumu, looking him. "I came this far. I want to see the outcome."

Meta Knight glanced at her with a pain-filled appearance, as if he were remembering something that he had tried so hard to forget. She could see it now; _You remind me so much of… _but she couldn't figure out who she reminded Meta Knight about. He never spoke much about people that he knew. "All right," he said at last, "you can come, but mind yourself."

The boy had said nothing; if it hadn't been for his high-pitched whimper, they would have forgotten that he was there in the first place. Meta Knight glanced at the boy with a hard-but-sympathetic look that made him wince. "What is it?"

"I-it's nothing," stammered the boy. "I-I have to go. My master will—"

"No, you're not going anywhere," said Meta Knight. "I don't want you out of any of our sights. You're coming with us."

The boy gasped, his eyes widening in fear. "But-but my master—!"

"Your master can wait," hissed Meta Knight. The child began shaking; Meta Knight's voice grew softer as he continued. "You know your way around this house better than any of us. If something happens, we might need your knowledge to help us all to escape."

The boy then looked wistful, as if he would very much like to oblige, but he still shook his head. "I'm so sorry, but… my master would hurt me gravely if I helped… and you, too…"

"That wasn't a question," said Meta Knight as he stepped towards the kid, gently grabbing his arm. Fumu saw how the coal-black boy tensed heavily and began to tremble. "You're coming with us."

"When I'm scared, I fr-freeze up," he stammered. "I'm of n-no use to your g-group, sir…"

Meta Knight finally submitted. "Fine… just keep safe, okay?" The boy, looking relieved, nodded his head and quickly fled, surprisingly fast on his feet like he'd been through similar circumstances millions of times. For all Fumu knew, he had.

* * *

"Axe?"

The sound of his former name made Gabon turn on his heel, and the voice that spoke it made him flash back for a fraction of a second to days long gone. Then he forgot, and his gaze narrowed. Not like they could really even see it through his skull mask; quietly, he grabbed his bones from where they lay by his side. He remembered a responsible demon, one who had steered him away from Nightmare's clutches and given him something to live for, who had become one of his closest allies in times of greatest trouble. The demon that had gone missing and whom, soon after, Nightmare had stolen back. For a second, he felt hesitant; then he raised his bones and hissed, "It's been a while, Meta Knight. But my name is Gabon."

Meta Knight's eyes flashed golden a split second before turning a mixture of orange and green. Behind him were two children and another knight. "'Gabon'? Don't tell me that you joined Nightmare!"

"I had to, after you abandoned us."

"I didn't abandon you! Nightmare—"

"I don't want to hear any excuses, Meta Knight! You left us all!" Gabon raised his bones threateningly, prepared to fight him to the death. Meta Knight had Galaxia unsheathed and at hand, and that made him somewhat anxious. Behind him, the penguin shifted his position, beginning to regain consciousness. "Now it's time for you to perish!"

"Axe—stop!"

Gabon dashed toward Meta Knight and slammed his bones down on him, but the demon was too quick and sidestepped before contact could be made. In retaliation, Gabon swung his pair of bones to the right, where Meta Knight backed up. He continued swinging until Meta Knight's backside hit the wall and he was cornered. Gabon prepared his bones to strike again, but was surprised when, mid-stroke, Meta Knight grappled the bones and pulled them out of his grip, slamming one on either side of his head.

Ringing filled his ears, and as Gabon groaned and backed up, the demon kicked out his violet foot. Gabon fell to the ground with a painful-sounding _thud_, before he quickly scrambled back to his feet. He felt ashamed of the leer Meta Knight was giving him, dismayed and discontented. It brought him back to the days when he worked for him, and when he made a significant error, he would give him that very same look. "Why did you do this?"

"Nightmare would have killed us if we didn't!" Gabon snapped, quietly ordering his bones back into his hands. Meta Knight seemed stunned when they rocketed out of his hands and into Gabon's, and the skull-masked creature lashed out at him. "It's all your fault!"

Meta Knight was forced to step aside and kick Gabon in the side, where he was unprotected. "It's all _your _fault," hissed Meta Knight, his eyes suddenly a fear-inducing red. "How could you submit to Nightmare? A true Knight of the Stars would never stoop so low!"

"Then maybe I'm not cut out to be a knight!" Gabon shrilled, throwing himself at Meta Knight with enough force to knock Meta Knight into the wall. His head struck the stone with a sharp _crack,_ and Meta Knight visibly winced. Gabon knew that he at least gave him a concussion to remember him by. Galaxia had dropped from his hand a short while before and laid on the ground, discarded. "Maybe none of us are all high-and-mighty like you want us to be!"

While Meta Knight was still dazed, Gabon struck him upside the head with his bone. For an old man, Meta Knight was certainly resilient. Blow after blow, and he scarcely winced, and he certainly never pleaded for him to stop. It took a long time before Meta Knight once more grasped Gabon's bones and kicked him square in the stomach. His mind must have been buzzing from the countless blows he had struck, and yet he pounded and punted him so roughly and with such coordination, Gabon felt his mind whirl and his stomach twist. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't focus on dodging or defending himself from the countless strikes aimed at him, and he quickly became overpowered.

Somewhere during the process, the knight and the children released the penguin, and they were now making an attempt to escape. He knew that Meta Knight would be too stubborn to pursue them without making his point clear, yet he also knew that he would want to escape as quickly as possible. One more blow to his stomach, however, and Gabon found himself collapsed on the floor, close to unconscious bliss. Meta Knight stood above him, his eyes a deep sapphire. The words that he said were blurred and muffled, but Gabon could guess what he said. "I didn't want to do this."

Gabon closed his eyes, and he floated in blackness. The last thing that he could remember was remembering, and the feeling of fear and loss.

What had he done?

* * *

"We need to burn this place down," said Alpha Knight, his tone surprisingly dark. Fumu looked at him, confused, and asked, "Why?"

"It's the only way to destroy this place," he explained, struggling to keep Dedede's gargantuan form propped on his shoulder. On his other side, Escargoon supported Dedede, although he was straining and sweating. Fumu didn't know why Alpha Knight was faring better than Escargoon. Then again, perhaps it was due to him having more experience with physical exertion.

But burning down the place would mean that they would probably die.

"We'll probably die anyways," prompted Alpha Knight, and he had a point. But what about Meta Knight? They couldn't just leave him there to burn with the place.

"But Meta Knight's still stuck down there," she exclaimed, shocked.

"Yeah," stated Bun, sounding defiant, "We need to make sure he's all right!"

"Leave him to die. If he's so stupid that he can't smell a little smoke, then he doesn't need to be here."

The coldness in his tone shocked her. Did he know Meta Knight from somewhere? Doubtful, it seemed as if the demon had never before seen the castle knight. But why did Alpha Knight hate him? "I don't care," yowled Bun, turning around quickly. "I'm gonna get him right now!"

"Bun—" started Fumu desperately, but it was no use. Bun had all ready gone.

* * *

Meta Knight was considering. He was considering whether to leave Axe here, unconscious, or to pick him up, leave with him in tow. Yes, he still thought of the boy as Axe. What else would he think him to be? Certainly not Gabon, the name given to him by Nightmare. He would always be Axe to him, and he would always care about him in a fatherly way.

But Axe had turned to Nightmare because he thought that Meta Knight abandoned the group. It wasn't the first time it had happened, but it stung as much as it did the first time, and the first time, he considered suicide. He thought that now, actually, of killing himself here and now so he wouldn't have to deal with life's pains and woes.

No, he couldn't do that. There were people here who depended on him and relied on him. It was strange that the people he hated because of their laziness were his only anchor to life. He allowed himself a small smile, and breathed one quiet thanks.

He was surprised when Bun stumbled into the basement, head-over-heels. He looked as if he had run all the way down the stairs to catch him. "Meta Knight," he wheezed, gulping down air. "Alpha Knight's gonna… b-burn the whole place, d-down."

"Thank you for telling me, Bun," said Meta Knight, and it was genuine. He had nothing against fire, but he had no intention to die in it. He took a step towards Bun, but stopped abruptly, looking back at Axe worriedly. Axe would certainly die if he was left there, but should the demon take him along? _Of course! _He thought, scorning himself for his impudence. He picked up Axe, hoisting him over his shoulder, and nabbed Galaxia, sheathing the golden blade with a crackle of electricity. "Let's go," he said sternly, ignoring Bun's agape shock. He gently grabbed the boy's overall straps and pulled him along, up the stairs.

…

Smoke.

He could smell smoke. Alpha Knight had all ready started burning the house down, without regard for his own safety, much less Bun's. As he opened the door, he could feel the heat, searing and hot, and when the door was opened all the way, he could see the flames dancing. He felt Bun tense as he pulled away from Meta Knight, about to be thrown into a panic; but before Bun could move, the demon unsheathed his wings and wrapped one of them around the boy, keeping him close. "Stay with me," he prompted, narrowing his eyes against the blinding heat.

He could teleport, but how far would that go? He could feel the heat blurring his thoughts, and the smoke was all ready seeping into his lungs. Bun coughed as Meta Knight began to walk, quick and measured, through the columns of fire and wood. Axe was still heavy on his shoulder, and though Meta Knight was slowed down by him, he refused to let go. A beam of lumber suddenly crashed in front of him, and he jumped back with Bun in his wake, avoiding the sparks flying everywhere. Meta Knight managed to snake his way around the beam.

Urgency was running high. Meta Knight picked up his pace, and Bun followed closely, his coughs growing more and more worrisome. Although he was restraining the urge to cough, as well, he could feel his own mind becoming fogged, his vision began to tunnel.

The door! There was the entrance door, cracked open. Meta Knight dashed over towards it, eager to breathe the fresh air that comes after rainfall, eager to escape the searing heat that made him sweat, eager to escape the thin and thick laces of smoke that marked his skin with their tentacle fingers and wound their way into his mouth. Meta Knight barreled his way into the door, over the porch and onto the grassy, dewy ground. Bun landed beside him, coughing still more, and when the smoke finally left his lungs, he collapsed, breathing heavily.

Meta Knight coughed sharply, the effort of holding it all in wearing off. He felt the adrenaline wear away rapidly, leaving him to be a giant wreck. He found himself gasping for air in much the same way Bun was. Axe had fallen from his grasp, and he lay on the ground not far away, still unconscious.

They made it out, and they were alive. Meta Knight collapsed to the ground in his relief.

* * *

Fumu had found Meta Knight fifteen minutes after the house had burnt completely to the ground. He was unconscious. Bun was, too, and that worried Fumu. But they were safe, and that was the relief of the matter.

Fumu called over Escargoon and Alpha Knight to help her get them up to the castle, or at least to town. They complied (Alpha Knight, Fumu noted, somewhat grudgingly) without much hesitation.

She looked at the house and at the burnt cinders that remained. The wetness and the fog prevented the fire from spreading, and the mist burnt out the heat after the house was destroyed. She sighed—her little brother, the stranger from a strange land… they could have all died. She was absolutely terrified for their safety.

She suddenly winced and clutched her wounded arm, grimacing in pain. In her terror, she had forgotten all about it. Meta Knight had said that it was long, but not deep. Maybe he said that so she wouldn't panic. Maybe he was telling the truth. The sudden thought of Meta Knight made her suddenly grateful for saving her brother; while he was a pest at some times and a nuisance at others, she couldn't bear the thought of him dying or dead. She had to remember to thank Meta Knight later.

She sighed quietly and was about to turn around when she froze. Somewhere in the shadows, there was a pair of blue, keen eyes watching her, pupil-less and iris-less. Her blood suddenly ran cold; her emerald eyes held its stare for long moments. What was it? Was it the ghost from the castle, irked and seeking revenge for its destroyed home? Was it another demon, sent here to kill her, her brother, and the knights? Or was it something else entirely?

The eyes disappeared for a millisecond—a blink, Fumu presumed—before turning away and disappearing altogether. When the moon peeked out from the clouds, she could have sworn she caught sight of the tip of a long-furred, snow-white tail, surprisingly reminiscent of a wolf.

* * *

**Like? Hate? Okay? Whatever! Remember my poll, people! …Please?**

**I'm so sorry this took so long. I was so side-tracked, what with my nephew visiting and all. I just finished it, actually. Any suggestions on what the next chapter should be?**


End file.
